Outsiders within

Examining Ethiopian adoptee experiences through a diasporic lens

Bibliographic Data

ID3608345
AuthorsH Girma (0000-0002-8262-1059, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, corresponding author), Alpha Abebe (McMaster University)
Year2024
Volume50
Issue18
Pages4661-4678
Publication date2024-11-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369183x.2023.2278401
OpenAlexW4388525217
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited31

The term ‘diaspora’ continues to have purchase, as public and scholarly communities grapple with a world increasingly characterized by transnational flows of people, ideas, and capital. The concept has played a critical role in making these messy constellations of social, political, and economic ties both visible and legible. However, transnational adoptees are often positioned just outside this analytical purview, and their migrations, identity processes, and political projects are rarely examined through a ‘diasporic’ conceptual lens. Based on 20 in-depth interviews with adult Ethiopian adoptees residing in the US, this paper discusses the points of dis/connection between Ethiopian adoptees and the larger Ethiopian diaspora. We focus on how Ethiopian adoptees navigate their inclusion/exclusion as peripheral actors across social groups, as well as the active work they engage in to negotiate their diasporic identities, belongings and personal politic. This analysis draws our attention to new actors at the edges of diasporic communities, which complicates and enriches mainstream conceptions of diaspora

Aesthetics · Diaspora · Inclusion–exclusion principle · Mainstream · Media studies · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Public sphere · Social science · Sociology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

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