Catherine Ceniza Choy. Global Families

Catherine Ceniza Choy opens her fine history of Asian international adoption with a vignette at once disturbing and amusing. Although she is herself Asian-American, she was asked at a playground from where she had adopted her daughter. Choy points out that international adoption has become so common that many people assume (foolishly and quite possibly prejudicially) that children with Asian features must have been adopted. In Global Families: A History of Asian International Adoption in America, Choy skillfully uncovers the long history of international adoption in the United States, linking it to major themes of American history such as Cold War-era military service abroad, the growth of multiculturalism, and the development of international social service initiatives during the post–World War II decades. The book is particularly successful at unpacking the meanings associated with family formation in a globalizing world; it is somewhat less convincing in its extended analysis of one adopted girl's life story and the documentary films she has made to try to understand her experiences.

Asian americans · Daughter · Ethnic group · Girl · Immigration · Multiculturalism · Political science · Sociology · Vignette · World War II · Chinese history and philosophy · Gender Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies