Outsiders within: examining Ethiopian adoptee experiences through a diasporic lens

The term ‘diaspora’ continues to have purchase, as public and scholarly communities grapple with a world increasingly characterized by transnational flows of people, ideas, and capital. The concept has played a critical role in making these messy constellations of social, political, and economic ties both visible and legible. However, transnational adoptees are often positioned just outside this analytical purview, and their migrations, identity processes, and political projects are rarely examined through a ‘diasporic’ conceptual lens. Based on 20 in-depth interviews with adult Ethiopian adoptees residing in the US, this paper discusses the points of dis/connection between Ethiopian adoptees and the larger Ethiopian diaspora. We focus on how Ethiopian adoptees navigate their inclusion/exclusion as peripheral actors across social groups, as well as the active work they engage in to negotiate their diasporic identities, belongings and personal politic. This analysis draws our attention to new actors at the edges of diasporic communities, which complicates and enriches mainstream conceptions of diaspora.