As a generation of Korean transnational adoptees came of age, critical voices emerged, offering a more holistic picture of the seemingly humanitarian practice of transnational adoption. Adding to priceless personal memoirs, scholars also examined the structural aspects of the transnational adoption of Korean children. These scholarly works usually employ an interdisciplinary method to engage feminist and postcolonial approaches, while also criticizing US involvement and militarism abroad. Susie Woo's recent study builds upon the work of scholars such as Eleana Kim, Arissa Oh, SooJin Pate, Tobias Hübinette, and Kim Park Nelson, who examined South Korean transnational adoption and challenged the mainstream adoption narrative that privileges notions of humanitarian love based on the rhetoric of child-saving rescue.
Woo's book considers part of this story by looking specifically at the transnational migration of women and children. Diverging slightly from these earlier works, Woo ultimately shifts the focus to Cold War logic and the...
