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Journal of Intercultural Studies

Volume 30, Issue 4, 2009

To be Non-white in a Colour-Blind Society: Conversations with Adoptees and Adoptive Parents in Sweden on Everyday Racism

To be Non-white in a Colour-Blind Society: Conversations with Adoptees and Adoptive Parents in Sweden on Everyday Racism

DOI:
10.1080/07256860903213620
Tobias Hübinette* & Carina Tigervall*

pages 335-353

Available online: 09 Oct 2009

Abstract

This study is based on qualitative interviews with 20 adult international adoptees of colour and 8 adoptive parents with internationally adopted children in Sweden regarding their experiences of racialisation, ethnic identifications and coping strategies. The study finds that the non-white bodies of the adoptees are constantly made significant in their everyday lives in interactions with the white Swedish majority population, whether expressed as ‘curious questions’ concerning the ethnic origin of the adoptees or as outright aggressive racialisation. The study argues that race has to be taken into consideration by Swedish adoption research and the Swedish adoption community, in order to fully grasp the high occurrence of mental illness among adult adoptees as found by quantitative adoption research.

Keywords

 

Details

  • Available online: 09 Oct 2009

Author notes

  • Tobias Hübinette -

    Tobias Hübinette has a PhD in Korean Studies from Stockholm University. He is a research fellow at the Multicultural Centre, Botkyrka, Sweden, where he is conducting research on the concept of transraciality and the transracial experience

  • Carina Tigervall -

    Carina Tigervall holds a PhD in Sociology from Umeå University. She is currently affiliated to the School of Social Work, Lund University, Sweden

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