Episode 001: Transracial Adoption Paradox and Invisibility of Self Under White Hegemony
In this episode I am looking back on a sociological analysis of my life, which was partly written as my final for my sociology class. I draw from my explanation of the Transracial Adoption Paradox, a distinct process in which transracial adoptees are afforded the privileges that come with whiteness, but lack the tools to understand their racialized identity and be able to cope with the reality of racial discrimination.
I have an introduction which you may listen to, or you can skip to 3:20 to when I officially start the episode :)
This episode has been in the making for a long time, and I do apologize for all the time it has taken– but know that there is so much that you do not see. The spaces between what is visible to us contain bundles of imagination, confusion, doubt, remembrance, and possibility. As a transracial adoptee I have always existed in the spaces between, between whiteness, my Mexican heritage, my adoptive family and the unseen spaces of my biological family.
Over the next few episodes I will continue to explain how the transracial adoption paradox is present in different areas of my life, conditioning, and worldviews. Since this podcast is still in its earlier stage, I am starting with some broad stories and will slowly get more specific in terms of ideas and themes I talk about. I just want you all to get to know a little bit more about me, my personality, what is shaping the questions I ask and the things I talk about, etc.... Let's go on this journey with one another. I hope that you see the me that is in you, in all the ways we are connected, and feel encouraged to think back on your ancestral journey into this body. That is the process of remembering our sacredness: it is how we have all been involved in making each other, that our roots are so intertwined and messy that we do not know where your body begins and mine begins, and that binding strengthens us to endure whatever we may face together as we draw life from the same water, earth, and sky.