Newsletter No. 3 
November 4, 2024
[UMI4AA News Reads] UMI4AA selects articles from newspapers to share with our community. This month, the UMI4AA Newsletter features “We are adoption survivors, used as tools of South Korea’s Western diplomacy” by Kihye Jeon Hong in Pressian on October 19, 2024. <Article Excerpt> “We vanished without a trace. From the moment we were born, we were separated from our mothers and sent to foreign lands. This book is the first voice of our shattered lives." Their stories demand accountability from the South Korean state, which has long concealed itself behind adoption agencies and adoptive parents. 
[UMI4AA Archiving Activities]
In the 1970s, adoption agencies, scholars, and the media collaboratively disseminated the narrative that “unwed mothers are young, poorly educated, and from underclass backgrounds.” This discourse not only confined unwed mothers within a rigidly stereotypical framework but also effectively excluded the rights to non-marital pregnancy and childbirth from the sphere of public discourse. Below are related articles. - Headline: “Preventing “Vacation Babies”” … Campaign to Curb the Rise in Unwed Mothers"
- Subheading: PPFK Launches Unique Campaigns at Mallipo and Daecheon Beaches
- Source: Kyunghyang Shinmun
- Date of Publication: July 31, 1974
Full Article Here ▼
- Headline: “More Teenage Unwed Mothers”
- Source: Chosun Ilbo
- Date of Publication: January 13, 1974
Full Article Here ▼
- Headline: "Preventing Unwed Mothers Among Runaway Factory Girls"
- Subheading: CAPOK Mothers' Support Club Delivers Lecture in Cheongju
- Source: Dong-A Ilbo
- Date of Publication: June 15, 1974
Full Article Here ▼
[UMI4AA Academic Activities] 1st Seminar Series - Review of the 1st UMI4AA Seminar Meeting On October 26, the first session of the 1st UMI4AA Seminar Series was held by the Unwed Mothers Initiative for Archiving and Advocacy (UMI4AA). A group of seven, including five in-person participants and two who joined us online, engaged in a meaningful exchange of ideas on unwed motherhood. During this session, we read and discussed two key articles on the theme of unwed motherhood: - Kwon, Heejung (2014), The History of Unwed Motherhood in the Modern Era through the Experiences of Unwed Mothers. (Click HERE)
- Kwon, Heejung (2015), Orphaning Babies of Unwed Mothers in Adoption Practices: Discourses on the ‘Normal Family.’ (Click HERE)
The seminar discussion was conducted in a dialogue format with the author, as both papers were authored by Director Heejung Kwon. In this format, each presenter summarized the assigned articles, followed by a session where participants could engage directly with the author through questions. The articles offered a historical analysis spanning from the establishment of the South Korean government to the 1980s, exploring how unwed motherhood was systematically "de-motherized." They also examined the influence of adoption practices and discourses surrounding normative family structures in this process. The participants engaged in discussions on the historical context and contemporary legal frameworks related to unwed motherhood, while also sharing personal perspectives, thereby deepening their understanding of this multifaceted issue.
[The 1st UMI4AA Annual Call for Papers]
The term “unwed mother” intersects with a range of complex themes, including minority identity, otherness, motherhood, family normativity, adoption systems and practices, mixed-race and non-mixed-race identities, orphans, child abandonment, the rights of children born outside marriage, social stigma, poverty, diaspora, Christianity, and even eugenics. However, scholarship on unwed motherhood has traditionally framed single mothers primarily as welfare recipients, inadvertently re-marginalizing them and reinforcing the stigma surrounding unwed motherhood.
In response, Unwed Mothers Initiative for Archiving and Advocacy (UMI4AA) is pleased to announce the 1st Annual Call for Papers. This initiative seeks to promote scholarship that examines unwed motherhood as a historical concept and social phenomenon, exploring how “unwed motherhood” has been constructed, represented, transformed, and politicized over time. We warmly invite scholars from diverse academic disciplines to share their perspectives and insights on this critical topic. 
Unwed Mothers Initiative for Archiving and Advocacy (UMI4AA) (+82)-31-772-8639 umi4aa@gmail.com 
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