Narrative Burden: A Talk on Adopting with Dr. Bert Ballard | SF

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Dr. Bert Ballard, Operation Babylift adoptee, speaks on the idea of “narrative burden,” or how one’s personal narrative is both a source of identity and a reminder of difference. Drawing on personal stories and his research, Dr. Ballard will explain narrative burden as it relates to international adoptees, adoptive families, and other marginalized and visibly different groups and individuals. There will be time for Q&A and conversation after Dr. Ballard’s presentation.

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Dr. Ballard, himself an adoptive parent, is an associate professor in the Communication Division at Seaver College for Pepperdine University where he researches intercountry adoption, adoptee identity, and adoptive family communication along with communication ethics. He has authored books on interpersonal communication and international adoption and has been published in a variety of scholarly journals. Dr. Ballard has co-founded two adoptee-led organizations, is an advisor and cast member on the film Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam, co-written a comic on adoption, and is editor of Pieces of Me: Who do I Want to Be? (EMK Press, 2009, www.emkpress.com/teenbook.html), an edited collected of voices for and by adopted teenagers from around the world. He has written for many adoption organizations and magazines, and is a frequent speaker around the world at scholarly and professional adoption conferences.

This program is part of the Operation Babylift: Perspectives and Legacies program series. The exhibition is open until 7 pm on this evening. This event is co-curated by the Presidio Trust and the Adoption Museum Project, in collaboration with Pact: An Adoption Alliance.

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