Out of Place

In Out of Place, SunAh M Laybourn tells a compelling story of the complex association between race, kinship, and citizenship among Korean American adoptees. This book would be terrific for any undergraduate course on the sociology of race, the family, and Asian Americans. ~Grace Kao, co-author of Diversity and the Transition to Adulthood in America

Engagingly written and impeccably researched, Out of Place offers an innovative analysis of how Korean American adoptees challenge widespread beliefs about kinship, citizenship, and race in America. ~Patricia Hill Collins, author of Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory

Laybourn’s pivotal work introduces readers to the idea of exceptional belonging—the granted but precarious inclusion experienced by many Korean individuals adopted into White families in the US. Her study provides a powerful framework with which to examine this type of belonging, outlining both the privileges and perils associated with White intimacies and describing how adoptees perpetuate, negotiate, and challenge such arrangements. A must read. ~Carla Goar, Professor of Sociology at Kent State University

Out of Place is magnificent. It is a meticulous study of Korean transnational, transracial adoptees’ particularities that unravels conflicting claims on identity and family while providing theoretical insight into the nature of belonging. Laybourn carefully chronicles a continuum of racialized national inclusion—from adoptable Korean orphans to easily deportable adults—whose citizenship remains contingent and revocable according to state whims. ~Victor Ray, author of On Critical Race Theory

Out of Place illustrates how Korean adoptees come to understand their racial positions, reconcile competing expectations of citizenship and racial and ethnic group membership, and actively work to redefine belonging both individually and collectively. ~Asian Review of Books

Laybourn explores the 'exceptional belonging' experienced by Korean adoptees and the impact it has on their identity construction...Through the lens of exceptional belonging, the author closely scrutinizes the unique place that Korean adoptees occupy in the American continuum of hierarchy, with whiteness as the apex. ~Alice Stephens, Korean Quarterly