Many adoptees are required to become people that they were never meant to be. While transracial adoption tends to be considered benevolent, it often exacts a heavy emotional, cultural, and economic toll on those who directly experience it. Outsiders Within is a landmark publication that carefully explores this most intimate aspect of globalization through essays, fiction, poetry, and art. Moving beyond personal narrative, transracially adopted writers from around the world tackle difficult questions about how to survive the racist and ethnocentric worlds they inhabit, what connects the countries relinquishing their children to the countries importing them, why poor families of color have their children removed rather than supported—about who, ultimately, they are. In their inquiry, the contributors unseat conventional understandings of adoption politics, reframing the controversy as a debate that encompasses human rights, peace, and reproductive justice.
Contributors: Heidi Lynn Adelsman; Ellen M. Barry; Laura Briggs, U of Massachusetts, Amherst; Catherine Ceniza Choy, U of California, Berkeley; Gregory Paul Choy, U of California, Berkeley; Rachel Quy Collier; J. A. Dare; Kim Diehl; Kimberly R. Fardy; Laura Gannarelli; Shannon Gibney; Mark Hagland; Perlita Harris; Tobias Hübinette, Stockholm U; Jae Ran Kim; Anh Ðào Kolbe; Mihee-Nathalie Lemoine; Beth Kyong Lo; Ron M.; Patrick McDermott, Salem State College, Massachusetts; Tracey Moffatt; Ami Inja Nafzger (aka Jin Inja); Kim Park Nelson; John Raible; Dorothy Roberts, Northwestern U; Raquel Evita Saraswati; Kirsten Hoo-Mi Sloth; Soo Na; Shandra Spears; Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark; Kekek Jason Todd Stark; Sunny Jo; Sandra White Hawk; Indigo Williams Willing; Bryan Thao Worra; Jeni C. Wright.
From the 2006 Edition: Outsiders Within reveals that while transracial adoption is a practice traditionally considered benevolent, it often exacts a heavy emotional, cultural, and even economic toll. Through compelling essays, fiction, poetry, and art, the contributors to this landmark publication carefully explore this most intimate aspect of globalization. Finally, in the unmediated voices of the adults who have matured within it, we find a rarely-considered view of adoption, an institution that pulls apart old families and identities and grafts new ones.
Editors: Jane Jeong Trenka, Julia Chinyere Oparah, Sun Yung Shin
Adoptee Authors: Ellen Barry, Rachel Quy Collier, Kim Diehl, Kimberly Fardy, Shannon Gibney, Mark Hagland, Tobias Hubinette, Jae Ran Kim, Sunny Jo, Beth Kyong Lo, Ron M., Patrick McDermott, Soo Na, Ami Inja Nafzger, Kim Park Nelson, Julia Chinyere Oparah, John Raible, Sun Yung Shin, Kirsten Sloth, Shandra Spears, Sandy White Hawk, Indigo Williams Willing, Bryan Thao Worra, Jeni C. Wright
Publication Year: Republished 2021; originally published 2006
Critical Reviews
Adoptee Reviews:
Other Reviews:
- Australian Journal of Adoption (original edition)
- NeoAmericanist (original edition)
- Publishers Weekly (original edition)
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