The Missing Peace: Offerings from the Study of Adoption, Culture, and Identity

Abstract

The purpose of this capstone is to expand cultural sustainability practice by investigating how emerging adult Chinese adoptees living in the United States negotiate identity formation and belonging. To understand the multifaceted experience of being a transnational, transracial adoptee means to understand a robust convergence of time, place, and culture. Drawing from two-years of interviews and focus groups with eight female emerging adult Chinese adoptees, I argue there exists a Chinese adoptee culture in the United States with unique needs and nuanced dimensions. Therefore, I situate this capstone at the apex of psychology, sociology, and folklore to demonstrate how cultural sustainability practice can lift identities in diaspora, strengthen family ties, and lead to wider social change. I conclude with reflection on what it is like to be an adoptee working in adoption and then offer a set of recommendations of ways to better reconcile vast differences between cultures.