Where Are You Really From?

• Main Author: Wyver, Richard
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS) 2014
• Subjects: Everyday racism; international adoption; colour-blindness; racism; Sweden; Humanities and the Arts; Humaniora och konst
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-21100

This study examines the everyday racism (as defined by Essed, 1991) experiences of Swedes adopted from Korea, through a narrative analysis of two autobiographical novels by adoptees, Lundberg’s Gul utanpå (2013) and Trotzig’s Blod är tjockare än vatten (1996). It also discusses the role and implications of everyday racism.The study suggests that everyday racism is a constant feature in the adoptee’s life, with much of it relating to the adoptee being racially categorised as Chinese. This paper argues that racism against adoptees is used by white Swedes to maintain boundaries of privileged white space, and stems from a fear that adoptees, Swedish in everything but skin colour, threaten to blur the boundaries of white Swedishness. The covert nature of everyday racism, combined with Sweden’s colour-blind discourse and a national myth of tolerance and anti-racism, means that such racism is often denied or goes unrecognised, and is thus legitimised.