earticle

영어

Due to uncertainty and deprivation of one’s identity and existence, an adoptee experiences “ambiguous loss.” An overseas Korean adoptee is multifariously inscribed with unresolved components such as “the birth and adoptive nations,” and “biological and adoptive parents.” Feelings of guilt and shame derive from the overseas adoption; hence, the notion itself stands as a national trauma. Mutual communication and therapeutic discourses between the birth nations and adoptees can be observed by reading their life stories such as I Didn’t Know Who I was, a collection of personal essays and poems composed by the Korean adoptees after their “Motherland Tour,” and other transnational adoptees’ narratives. In their candid confessions on adoption, the transracial and transcultural narratives converge on the ongoing controversial factors such as birth nation, adoptive country, birth parents, adoptive parents and adoption itself. In this paper, the recovery phases of one’s identity via his/her visit to the motherland shown in the adoptees’ life stories and testimonial narratives are observed; moreover, examination of dialogues or discourses between an individual and the nations and also between birth and adoptive nations take place, which lead up to empathetic healing for all. The healing or consoling process of the narrative therapy for adoptees and the nations involves democratic tolerance or acceptance of multiple identities, which transcends dualistic rigidity, assimilation, and ethnic reductionism. Through the exploration of the intricate labyrinth of birth and adoptive nations and adoptees, the paper further explores the understanding of the socio-cultural constructions of adoption, the anxiety of belonging, and the deeply rooted trauma known as “loss without closure.”