Samara Kim

Samara is an academic researcher, writer, artist, and community organiser whose work explores race, whiteness, coloniality, and child rights, with a particular focus on transracial-transnational adoption—a topic that is both personal and political.

Samara has a Masters in International Development and is currently a PhD candidate. Her current research project, "Families for babies or babies for families? Manufactured orphans in South Korean intercountry adoption to Australia”, critically examines human rights and racial dignity within Australian transracial-transnational adoption. Her work is grounded in lived experience and a critical adoptee standpoint, which she believes is essential in any research that involves human beings.

Her research is part of the broader ARC DECRA project Beyond Inclusion: Belonging and Racial Dignity for Africans in Australia, led by Associate Professor Kathomi Gatwiri.

She can also be found at the Centre for Children and Young People, Southern Cross University, the Australian Women and Gender Studies Association (AWGSA), the Reproductive Justice Hallmark Research Initiative at Melbourne University and at Korean Adoptees in Australia Network (KAIAN).