Ethnic Exploration and Consciousness of Difference: Chinese Adoptees in Early Adolescence

Abstract

Ethnic exploration is one path for children adopted internationally to develop an understanding of how and why they are different from others, and to build personal biographies that bring together adoption, race, and national origin. In this article, we draw on the concept of consciousness of difference to analyze the ethnic explorations of 282 Chinese adopted girls. Where race was salient and positive in daily life, ethnic exploration during early adolescence provided an affirmative way for many of them to normalize the consciousness of being visibly different from family and friends, even though in some ways it also complicated it.

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese
• adoptees
• adolescence
• identity

Acknowledgments

Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Third International Conference on Adoption Research in Leiden, Netherlands, the 105th Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association in Atlanta, Georgia, and the 9th Asian Family Camp of Cape Cod.