This book tells compelling stories of how 27 adult adopted Koreans who grew up in the U.S. and Europe have dealt with various issues in their lives.
How did they overcome some of their adversities in life? What helped them integrate their racial and cultural identities into their self-image? Did they want to visit Korea? What was it like to be in Korea? How did they go about searching for birth parents? What have they given back to their communities?
By telling their stories, we want to affirm and validate the challenges adopted Koreans face because of the very nature of cross-cultural and trans-racial aspects of their lives.
We are honored and privileged to present the contributors who so generously share their life experiences, wisdom, pain and joy.
To learn more about Nancy Fox, please click here.
Review by Bill Drucker, Korean Quarterly Fall 2002 Vol.6,
No.1
Our stories are the same, interchangeable, yet unique and they are the blood
that flows between us, mother to daughter, adoptee to adoptee.
Kathleen Bergquist, contributing writer. After the Morning Calm: Reflections of Korean Adoptees is the latest collection of personal stories and poems by 26 adopted Koreans (27 counting the foreword). The ages of the writers in this anthology range from Stephanie Lagman at 18 to State Senator (WA) Paull Shin at 66. Most of the Korean adoptees were raised in America. Sunny Jo grew up in Norway, and Geoffrey van Veen grew up in The Netherlands.
These voices tell their individual stories in prose and verse, offering personal insights into the issues of being trans-racial adoptees, of going through the pains of adoption and coming to terms with one’s identity, being accepted and succeeding in the larger community and giving back, and finally finding his or her own place in the world.
In finding their place, the adoptees in After the Morning Calm have succeeded on many levels. This is an accomplished group. There are three Ph.D.s represented. Of the 26 voices in this anthology, an overwhelming 16 have been to Korea – to visit, to do birth searches, to be re-united with their birth families, and even to live and work there. Kathleen Berquist, in her touching story takes adoption full circle, from being an adopted child to being the mother of an adopted child. If there are adversities, they are obstacles to be overcome as with Mary Lee Vance in her essay (polio) and with Asia Renning (autism and Hirschprung’s Disease, a pediatric gastrointestinal disorder associated with chronic visceral pain).
Succeeding personally is one thing, but there is the strong theme of giving back to the community, which is expressed by this group of adoptees. Thomas Park Clement has taken his successes and skills in medical technology to North Korean soil, not once but several times to donate everything from basic medical equipment to sophisticated surgical suites. Stephen Morrison is the founder of the Mission to Promote Adoption in Korea (MPAK), an organization that promotes adoption in Korea.
Native adoption is a new topic in this book. Just how do Korea and Koreans perceive Korean adoptees? Not well, in the opinion of several writers. Stephen Morrison, founder of MPAK, suggests that adoption is not viewed as a positive thing, and domestic adoptions (Koreans adopting Koreans) are even more culturally negative. “Foreign adoptions had been around over 45 years but the adoption culture in Korea has hardly improved.”
Stephen Morrison addresses a very sensitive issue. For Korea and Koreans,
this is a centuries-old barrier. Korean-ness is a national identity, culturally
imbedded over centuries of foreign influences, wars, and internal crisis.
After the Korean War, orphans were taken from a poverty-stricken country.
Today, poverty, divorce, being unmarried, and other social stigmas have replaced
war as the reasons for the new orphans. Korea still does not recognize these
children as Korean.
Acknowledgement of the mass export of their “children” is slowly
being made by Korea. Mrs. Han, president of MPAK has reported in an article,
that of the 4,046 children adopted last year, 2,360 (58%) went abroad, and
1,686 (42%) went to families in Korea. The number of Korean domestic adoptions
in 1999 was 1,726.
Geoffrey van Veen describes in his essay this (issue) as a problem that is far more complex. “…This guilt is towards adopted Koreans. To understand this, you have to understand Koreans. Every Korean is a relative; they or we come from the same ancestors. The collective well-being of Koreans is a responsibility of every Korean, in the past, the present, and the future. They believe it is the fault of all Koreans that so many children had been adopted abroad. In the last ten years, their views on overseas adoption have changed. A time has come to face the shame.”
If Koreans and Korean adoptees approach this with patience, new alliances across the Pacific pond can be forged. This could be as significant as any reunification. The current South Korean President Dae Jung Kim has acknowledged this issue.
After the Morning Calm is particularly suitable for the younger reader. Adoption is a sensitive subject, and the 26 voices gathered here are positive, affirming ones. This was one of the goals of the editors Wilkinson and Fox.
Accompanying each essay or poem are pictures of the author (as a child and recently), with an email address for personal contact, two touches that create a feeling of personal contact for the reader. After the Morning Calm also provides an extensive list of adoption organizations, support groups, and other books and newsletters.
Review by Min Ji Ng, News from FAIR,
Spring Youth Edition 2002
After the Morning Calm is a book all Korean adoptees should read.
The stories, all written by adults adopted as children from Korea present
a refreshing change from the many books about Korea or those about adoption.
This collection is about being adopted and being Korean. It “fits”
Korean adoptees.
Truthful and easy to read, After the Morning Calm raises concerns all Korean adoptees share to a greater or lesser extent.
I was fortunate to live in an area and a family where “Asianess” was normal. I never lived apart from Asian-Americans and always knew and appreciated the fact that I am Korean-American.
I have always lived with and attended school with Korean-Americans. My birth culture has always been honored in my family and community. I haven’t shared the cultural isolation of the authors of After the Morning Calm, but I can relate to the adoption issues only adoptees understand and share.
Reading the book, I feel lucky to have been raised knowing who I am and feeling proud of myself. Like most adopted persons, I have wondered who I came from and who I look like. As a six, seven and eight-year-old, I was angry and wanted answers to questions no one could answer. I was supported and helped in my struggle and for the most part I “got over it.”
I have a good, somewhat older than I, Korean friend, raised in a traditional Korean-American family. We share a lot in common, similar interests, Korean identity – we are not all that different. Malina was born in America and raised in a traiditional Korean family. I was born in Korea and raised in a multi-ethnic American family. We learn from each other. She is a successful role model. She enjoys our family, free from the ethnocentricity of her own. She is more bound by the traditional Korean culture of her parents; the necessity for marrying a Korean, for instance. I grew up with multicultural respect. I am able to be proud of who I am, proud of being Korean, proud of being adopted proud of being in my family, but no one aspect of myself dominates my identity. I am who I am because of all the characteristics and experiences of my life and personality. I have never felt or thought that I am not Korean or not adopted – but that is not all that I am. I cannot really relate to the frequently cited idea in the book that adoption is the center of my life.
I recently graduated from UC Berkeley, a university with an extremely high
Asian population. In Asian Studies and more general courses, I was reminded
both of my difference from students raised in traditional Asian families and
the reality that I am not that different from them. University students are
more like each other than different.
Although I cannot relate to the cultural isolation experienced by the contributors
to After the Morning Calm, I highly recommend it to all Korean adoptees and
certainly to all adoptive and prospective adoptive parents. The book says
what less verbal Korean adopted children may be feeling but not expressing.
Perhaps most importantly, After the Morning Calm has the potential to open a dialogue between young people adopted from Korea and their parents. I heartily recommend it.
Review by Gail Berkove, Ph.D., Michigan Women Psychologists Newsletter,
Winter, 2002 Issue
Dr. Sook Wilkinson and her colleague Nancy Fox have brought us a winning book
of touching and inspiring vignettes entitled After the Morning Calm: Reflections
of Korean Adoptees. The 27 articles that make up this volume are personal
glimpses told from the heart with courage and candor. The stories express
the memories and losses, yearnings and challenges, struggles and triumphs
experienced by Korean adoptees in their continuing journey toward self discovery
as they seek to understand and come to terms with multiple identities. Through
story and verse, we are given a glimpse of what it is like to grow up in a
foreign land, with a new family, a strange language, a different name. Sometimes
these differences are felt keenly by the adoptees, sometimes they are not.
But at some point, often during young adulthood, issues of belonging and identity
surface and with that, opportunities to deepen and grow.
The men and women who have contributed to this special collection range in age from late teens to mid-60's. Each entry is preceded by a brief biographical note and almost all include an email address so that readers can contact the authors if they wish. Most of the introductions also display a picture of each author. Sometimes there are two pictures: a baby picture next to a more recent photo. These additions help the stories come alive and feel more personal and real to the reader. While this is a book that can be enjoyed by all, it is a "must read" for professionals who work with intercultural or adoption issues.
