2014 Conference Program
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Registration, 12:00 noon to 9PM, Turnbull Center reception
Reception, 4:30-6:00 Turnbull Center lower lobby
Dinner break, 6-7:30
Plenary Session–Keynote: Jackie Kay, MBE, Newcastle University (UK), 7:30, reading from her adoption memoir Red Dust Road, Room 108
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Registration, 8AM to noon, Turnbull Center reception
Books, materials, and conversation, Room 115, 8AM-5PM
Concurrent Session 1, 8:45-10:15 am
A. Adoption in World Writing, Room 103
—John McLeod, Postcolonial and Diaspora Literatures, University of Leeds, “Transcultural Boundaries and Adoptive Being: Crossings and Connections in Black British Adoption Texts”
—Walter Geerts, Italian and Comparative Literature, University of Antwerp, “Border-zones of Adoption: On Tournier’s and Coetzee’s Fiction”
—Marina Fedosik-Long, English, New York University, “Wilkomirski’s Fragments and Adoption Search Narratives”
B. Critiquing Transnational Adoption, Room 101
Screening: Jane Jin Kaisen’s Adopting Belinda (10 minutes)
—Soh Yeun Kim, English, University of Washington, “Crossing Boundaries, Mocking Borders: Adoption and Boundary-Crossing in Jane Jin Kaisen’s Adopting Belinda”
Commentary: Lene Myong, Education, Aarhus University, Copenhagen,
C. Norms and Cultural Logics of Adoption, Room 114
—Kathryn Mariner, Anthropology, Chicago, “How to Adopt a Child Without Losing Yourself: Adoption in the Age of Anxiety”
—Sayres Rudy, Political Science, Bryn Mawr, “’You Must Be So Sad’: Flesh and Blood Liberalism, Compulsory Adoptee Nostalgia, and (Bio)Political Conduct”
Concurrent Session 2, 10:30-noon
A. Representations of Adoptees in Fiction and Life Writing, Room 103
—Emily Cheng, English, Montclair State, “The ‘Model Adoptee’ in Aimee Phan’s We Should Never Meet”
—Marianne Novy, English, University of Pittsburgh “Language of Blood and Lucky Girl: The Spectrum of Transnational Adoptee Experience”
—Emily Hipchen, English, West Georgia State, “’I Built That’: Narratives of the Hyper-able Adoptee in Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs”
B. Transracially Adoptive Parents: Research and Personal Narrative, Room 101
—Ravinder Barn, Social Policy, Royal Holloway College, University of London, “Adoption, Social Capital, and Multi-ethnic Families”
—Sarah Richards, Early Childhood Education, University Campus Suffolk (UK), “Cultural Performances of Belonging in UK Chinese Adoptive Communities”
—Mary Hollowell, Education, Clayton State (Georgia), “Bumps, Bridges, and Beautiful Chinese Vistas: One Transnational Adoptive Family Tells All”
C. Adoption and Political Ideologies, Room 114
—Sarah Fieldston, History, Yeshiva, “Parent to the World: American Child Sponsorship Programs in the Cold War Area”
—Ming Syuan Jhong, History, Texas Tech,“Operation Babylift: Restoring American Family Values through Media Discourse”
—Gretchen Sisson, sociologist, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, University of California at San Francisco, “Narratives of Adoption Redemption in Anti-Abortion Media”
Lunch, noon-1:15, lobby
Plenary–Keynote: Laura Briggs, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1:15-2:30, Room 108
Concurrent Session 3, 2:45-4:15
A. Adoption in World War II and Its Aftermath, Room 101
—Rosemarie Pena, Childhood Studies, Rutgers University-Camden, “Black, German, American, and Adopted: The Children of the Post World War II Occupation”
—Julia Bowes, History, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, “Fostering Ties: The Politics of Resettling Displaced Orphans in the US after World War II”
B. Gamete Donation in Ethical Comparisons to Adoption, Room 114
—Sarah-Vaughan Brakman, Philosophy, Villanova University, “Crossing the Boundaries of Family Formation: Donor Conception and Adoption”
—Kimberly Leighton, Philosophy, American University, “Re-Naturing Adoption: ‘Nature/Nurture’ in Arguments against Anonymous Gamete Donation”
C. Adoption in the Media, Room 103
—Kim Park Nelson, American Multicultural Studies, Minnesota State at Moorhead, “War Orphans and Helping Ourselves, with an Analysis of American Newspaper Coverage of Korean Adoption from 1952”
—Jae Ran Kim, Social Work, University of Minnesota, “Narratives of Rescue and Assimilation”
—Kimberly McKee, Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies, Grinnell College, “”’Let’s Not Get Hysterical’: Was He Ever Her Father?”
Chair, Kimberly McKee
Concurrent Session 4, 4:30-5:30
A. Adoptive Mothers in Mid-Twentieth-Century Popular Culture, Room 101
—Claudia Nelson, English, Texas A & M, “Adoptive ‘Momism’: Murder, Horror, and Neurosis in Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence and Mary Elizabeth Counselman’s Mommy
—Elisabeth Wesseling, Gender Studies, Maastricht (Netherlands), “Momism, Maternalism, and Adoptive Motherhood in Fifties America: The Case of the Trapp Family Singers”
B. Reproduction and Rights, Room 114
—Joyce Peterson, History, Florida International, “Baby M: The Right to Procreate, Parental Rights, and Best Interests of the Child”
—Andrew Botterell, Philosophy/Law, Toronto/University of Western Ontario; Carolyn McLeod, Philosophy, UWO, “Can a Right to Reproduce Justify the Status Quo on Parental Licensing?”
Dinner break, 5:30-7:15
Plenary: Film and commentary: “Resilience,” (about a Korean birthmother and her adoptee son in the US); 7:15 (film is 1 hr. 15 minutes); comments by Brent, subject of the film; Janet Ellerby, birthmother, English, University of North Carolina at Wilmington; Kim Park Nelson, American Multicultural Studies, Minnesota State at Moorhead, Room 103.
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Books, materials, and conversation, Room 115, 8AM-5PM
Concurrent Session 5, 8:45-10:15
A. Adoption Agencies, Social Workers, and Intercountry Adoption, Room 101
—Evelyn Sanchez, American Studies, Brown, “Constructions of Parenthood in Social Service Training (Rhode Island)”
—Robin Shura, Sociology, Hiram, “Intercountry Adoption or Sale of Children: A Preliminary Analysis of ICA Practices in the USA”
B. Creative Writing and Storytelling About Adoption, Room 114
—Joyce Maguire Pavao, PACT (Pre-Post Adoption Consulting and Training), “How the Story Heals the Storyteller: Narrative Theory and Adoption”
—Responses from members of the FSU Creative Writing Program.
C. New Ways of Looking at Adoption, Room 103
—Carol Singley, English, Rutgers University-Camden, “Redefining Family and Identity: Toward New World Orders of Adoption”
—Jacqueline Heslop, English, Kwantlen Polytechnic, “The New Normal: Sameness, Difference, and Transnational Adoptive Families“
—Margaret Homans, English and WGSS, Yale, “Transnational and Transgender”
Concurrent Session 6, 10:30-noon
A. African American Novels about Adoption, Room 103
—Cynthia Callahan, English, Ohio State University, Mansfield, “Recovering African American Adoption Narratives: A Different Kind of Search”
—Lori Askeland, English, Wittenberg University, “’ How Thoroughly He Has Stolen my Child’: Adoption, Abduction, Slavery, Religion, and Imperialism in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable Novels”
—Shannon Gibney, Writer, Minneapolis, reading and discussion of excerpts from Hank Aaron’s Daughter, YA novel
B. Adoptee Identity and Adoptive Family Construction, Room 114
—Derek Kirton, Social Work, University of Kent, “Close(d) Encounter? Culture and Identity in Autobiographical Transracial Adoption Narratives”
—Jill Brown, Psychology, Creighton University, “ ‘First, find yourself a good mother’: An Autoethnography of Adoption and Identity by an Adoption Researcher”
—Gary Matloff, PhD, Coral Springs, FL; “Parenting the Scattered Pieces of a Tattered Identity”
C. Child Circulation in Literature and Oral History, Room 101
—Jacki Fitzpatrick, Development and Family Studies, Texas Tech, and Erin Kostina-Ritchey, “Representations of Psychological Connectedness in Children’s Books about Chinese-born Adopted Girls”
—Dennis Leoutsakas, Communication Studies, Salisbury University, Md., “Framing Orphan Tales: From Folklore to Fiction to Fact”
Lunch, noon – 1:15, including ASAC business meeting (Room 101)
Concurrent Session 7, 1:15-2:45
A. Foster Care and Its Representations, Room 101
—Dee Michell, Gender Studies, University of Adelaide, “From Fiction to Non-Fiction: Stories About Foster Care in Australia”
—Shelley Harshe, Anthropology, American University, “Fostering Feelings: The Fulfilling and Alienating Work of Paid Foster Care in US-Guatemalan Transnational Adoption”
B. Chinese Birthparent Searches and Reunions, Room 114
—Jenna Cook, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Yale, “ ‘Are You Our Daughter?: Encounters with Chinese Birth Parents and Search Strategies in China”
—Julia Vich-Bertran, Center for Citizenship, Migration, and Development, Maastrich University, “Meeting My Birth Parents: Contested Imaginaries in the Chinese Transnational Adoptive Program”
C. Adoption, Medical Practice, and Disability, Room 103
—Sandy Sufian, Medical Education, University of Illinois, Chicago, “How Families are Made: Physician Engagement in Adoption Practice”
—Emily Noonan, Anthropology, University of North Carolina, “The Constitution of Adoptive Families Through the Practice of International Adoptive Medicine”
—Elizabeth Raleigh, Sociology, Carleton College; Barbara Katz Rothman, Sociology, CUNY, “”Disability is the New Black: The Rise of the ‘Cleft Lips and Palate Program’ in Transracial International Adoption”
Concurrent Session 8, 3-4:30
A. Birth Parents in Ethnography, Fiction, Theory, and Personal Narrative, Room 103
—Sarah Brittingham, Public Health, University of North Carolina, “Birth Families and Intercountry Adoption in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia”
—Janet Ellerby, English, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, “Transnational Birth Parents in Novels by Ann Hood, Cristina Garcia, and Dana Sachs”
—Susanna Snyder, Anthropology, Oregon State, “Birthmothers Between Borders of Motherhood: Gender and Kinship Subversion in the U.S”
—Darrell Nicholson, Editor and writer, Florida, “Birthfather”
B. Gays, Lesbians, Adoption and Surrogacy, Room 101
—Jessica Petocz, Feminist Studies, University of Minnesota, “Fostering Change: Early Experiments in Gay and Lesbian Foster Care”
—Johanna Gondouin, University of Stockholm, “Reproducing Heteronormativity: Gay Parenting and Surrogacy in Sweden”
—Theresa Cain, Social Work, Smith, “Lesbian Adoptees in a Hetero and Bionormative World”
C. Crossing Academic and Personal Boundaries: How Does Our Experience as Adoptive Parents Impact Our Research and How Does Our Research Affect Our Understanding of Adoption?, Room 114
—E. Kay Trimberger, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Sonoma State; Patricia Ramsey, Psychology and Education, Mount Holyoke; Eric Walker, English, Florida State; Laura Briggs, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts at Amherst; and Amanda Baden, Counseling Psychology, Montclair State
Concurrent Session 9, 4:45-5:45
A. Place, Home, and the Construction of Identity and Citizenship among Korean Adoptees, Room 101
—Patrick Miller, Geography, West Point, “Heritage Tourism and Return Journeys: Place and Identity Construction in Korean Adoptees”
—Kara Becker, Editor, San Francisco, “Two Homes: Korean Adoptees’ New Definitions of Citizenship, Belonging, and Identity”
B. Round Table on Wayne Carp’s Jean Paton and the Struggle to Reform American Adoption, with Elizabeth Samuels, Law, University of Baltimore; Marley Greiner, Bastard Nation; Marianne Novy, English, University of Pittsburgh; Wayne Carp, History, Pacific Lutheran; Room 103
C. Contrasting Perspectives on Custody Issues, Room 114
—Elisha Oliver, Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, “Negotiating Boundaries: Grandparents as Adoptive Parents”
—Sheila Ganz, filmmaker, San Francisco, excerpt from “On Life’s Terms: Mothers in Recovery”
Banquet 5:45-7:00, Room 108
Plenary : Film and commentary: “Somewhere Between,” 7:00 (film is 1 hour 30 minutes); Comments by Linda Goldstein Knowlton, director, and Jenna Cook, one of the subjects, Room 103