Jane Jeong Trenka

Last updated

Jane Jeong Trenka
Born1972 (age 52–53)
Seoul, Korea
EducationAugsburg University
Occupation(s)Activist, writer

Jane Jeong Trenka (born 1972) is a South Korean activist and an award-winning writer. [1] She is the president of the organization TRACK (Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea).

Contents

Early life

Trenka was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1972. When she was six months old, Trenka and her sister were adopted into an American family in rural northern Minnesota. Her Korean mother found her daughters in 1972, shortly after the girls were sent to the U.S. and before they were legally adopted. Trenka reunited with her birth mother in South Korea in 1995 when she was 23. [2] In 2004, she returned to live in Korea. While applying for a visa in 2006, Trenka discovered that the Korean adoption agency that had overseen her adoption had lied, both about her background and about the people who were going to adopt her. [3] Trenka became an activist for standard and transparent adoption practices to protect the human rights of adult adoptees, children, and families. She officially repatriated to South Korea in 2008. [3]

Career and education

Trenka received a degree in music performance from Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota [4] and became a piano teacher in Minnesota before her return to Korea. [2]

While studying at Augsburg University, Trenka was consistently stalked, and she has spoken publicly about her experience in order to raise awareness to the issue, including discussing the incident in her book The Language of Blood. [5] Her experiences were adapted for an episode of the Investigation Discovery series Obsession: Dark Desires . [6]

In 2013, Trenka attended Seoul National University to pursue a degree in public administration. [2]

She has written two memoirs on her experiences with international, transracial adoption: The Language of Blood and Fugitive Visions: An Adoptee's Return to Korea.

Works

Awards

See also

References

  1. ↑ "biography: Jane Jeong Trenka". Archived from the original on August 4, 2010. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Sang-Hun, Choe (June 29, 2013). "An Adoptee Returns to South Korea, and Changes Follow". The New York Times.
  3. 1 2 "Raised in America, activists lead fight to end S. Korean adoptions". CNN . September 16, 2013.
  4. ↑ Ciuraru, Carmela (November 26, 2003). "The search for a heritage ignored". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
  5. ↑ "National Stalking Awareness Month | Jane's Blog". jjtrenka.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on November 6, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Recommended". Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  7. ↑ results, search (July 1, 2005). The Language of Blood. Graywolf Press. ISBN   1555974260.
  8. ↑ Kyobo Books: 피의 언어
  9. ↑ Trenka, Jane Jeong; Oparah, Julia Chinyere; Shin, Sun Yung, eds. (November 1, 2006). Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption. South End Press. ISBN   0896087646.
  10. ↑ Kyobo Books
  11. ↑ Trenka, Jane Jeong (June 23, 2009). Fugitive Visions: An Adoptee's Return to Korea. Graywolf Press. ISBN   978-1555975296.
  12. ↑ Kyobo Books: 덧없는 환영들
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.