Dissertation Title
Sexuality, Race, and Kinship in U.S.-China Adoption
Chair: Mari Yoshihara
(Proposal Defended: May 2023)
Dissertation Abstract: Focusing on transnational adoption from China to the United States since the 1990s, this dissertation seeks to retheorize conventional notions of family and kinship outside of a heteronormative biological logic. More specifically, my dissertation develops what remains an unexplored conversation between the critiques of heteronormativity in new kinship studies and transnational adoption studies. It uses U.S.-China adoption as a case study to investigate the formation of a new notion of kinship: how is kinship formed in families with children adopted from China? How is adoptive kinship different from or similar to a traditional notion of kinship that is based on blood ties and heteronormative procreation? How do racial, ethnic, or national differences influence the formation of new kinship? It draws from Asian American studies, queer diaspora studies, and gender and sexuality studies to analyze legal texts, government reports, media coverage, online writings, and documentaries related to U.S.-China adoption. I also conduct in-depth interviews with adoptees and adoptive parents, including those in Asian, mixed-race, single-parent, and LGBTQ+ families. This research helps to retheorize kinship beyond the assumptions of heteronormative ideology based on blood and reveal the sexual and racial ideologies underlying the notion of kinship.