Travelling Home: The Scandinavian Transnational Adoptee Identity on the Move

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Globalization and migration are strong themes in contemporary Scandinavian literature. In this literature, which discusses migration in relation to complex questions about home, national identity, and the self, memoirs written by Scandinavian transnational adoptees stand out as a new intriguing literary voice. This raises the question how we can understand Scandinavian transnational adoptees as migrants and travelling subjects. By using Trinh T Minh-haʼs idea of “home” as a source of movement or travelling as a starting point, this article explores the Scandinavian transnational adoptee subject as a migrant identity and as a traveller in literary works written by these adoptees. The article focuses on two physical journeys: the journey through which the transnational adoptee arrives in the Scandinavian country as an immigrant and the journey he/she takes when revisiting the country of birth as a traveller/tourist. This ends up in a discussion of how “home” could be interpreted in the complex migration identity that is the Scandinavian transnational adoptee identity.