Adoption Reckonings

Gonda Van Steen holds the Koraes Chair of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature in the Department of Classics at King’s College London, where she also directs the Centre for Hellenic Studies. She is the author of many articles and six books. The book most pertinent to this recent writing and performance project is Adoption, Memory, and Cold War Greece (2019). Van Steen is a co-leader of the campaign called Nostos for Greek Adoptees.

• List of Figures; Foreword; Acknowledgments; PART I Introduction: Adoption Reckonings: Raw Writing about Postwar International Adoption; PART II For Three Refrigerators and a Washing Machine: A Testimony Theater Play; Introduction: Voicings of What Cannot Easily Be Voiced; TEXT ONE For Three Refrigerators and a Washing Machine; TEXT TWO/TOO; References; Index

“As a scholar and practitioner of drama and theater, I welcome a playscript that is so deeply concerned with modern-day issues of identity and belonging. The playscript takes us back to Greece of the 1950s and to the sense of loss that comes with child adoptions abroad. But it also hits home for being poignantly current and for acknowledging the mental and physical toll that the “historic” adoptions took on young children, unsupported birth mothers, small village communities, and ultimately on an entire country that is still contending with its post-Civil War past.” —Maria Frangi, University of Patras, Greece.“What a rare and unique achievement that groundbreaking, scholarly research comes alive via the creative process in the form of a stage play. Professor Gonda Van Steen has successfully done just that. In Adoption Reckonings, she explains the transformation of her book to the stage through the emotional testimonies of those directly involved in the postwar adoption of Greek children, the first such mass exportation of children in history.” —Dr. Mary Cardaras, Founder and Director, The Demos Center of The American College of Greece, Adoptee and Activist for Adoptee Rights.