Abstract
Adoptee stigmas are currently resisted by adoptee social media communities. This paper reviews and analyzes these stigmas and the cultural and institutional adoption practices that originated and continue to undergird the social stigmas undergone by adoptees. The testimonies offered by adoptee social media communities are a key epistemic source of knowledge for this analysis. The plethora of adoptee testimonies and originating institutional practices are contextualized by reference to their cultural and community intersectional situations. This paper’s intersectional, contextual analysis can, arguably, give rise to empathic discourses. Intersectional empathy can serve as a set of resistant discourses that are useful as counteractive stories for adoptee resistance to stigmatization. This conclusion explicates and describes the usefulness of such counteractive stories.
Presenters
Kate MehuronProfessor of Philosophy, History and Philosophy Department, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Adoption, Adoptee, Intersectionality, Stigma, Context, Empathy
