Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

October 4, 2024

Abigail Arnold | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Geeking Out With…is a feature in which we talk to GSAS students about their passions. You can check out past installments here.

Lingxuan Liang is a second-year PhD student in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (NEJS); she also earned a master’s degree in NEJS and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGS) from Brandeis in 2023. Her research focuses on modern Jewish history, particularly the intersection of race and religion in the United States and how it connects to the Jewish community. She joined Geeking Out With… to discuss her ongoing research project, which deals with Jewish Americans and transnational, transracial adoption.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

How did your research project get started?

I started the project as a paper for a course with Jonathan Sarna during my master’s program, and I expanded it into my master’s paper. Now, I want to expand it into my doctoral dissertation, because I’ve encountered more material than I expected. I think it’s a topic that not many people have explored, so there’s value in digging into the archives.

Originally, my project was about Jewish Americans adopting east Asian children. I’m Chinese and come from a region of China where a lot of girls were abandoned, so I grew up thinking “I wonder where they go?” When I came to the United States to study history in college, I met quite a few Chinese adoptees as an undergraduate. There was a 2014 study showing that American Jews adopted at about twice the rate of the general population, which sparked my curiosity and interests in investigating the adoption patterns of Jews in the States. Since Jewish studies is my area, I decided to follow through with my investigation by heading to the archives. It’s also a project that combines both East Asian/Chinese and Jewish identities, so it means a lot to me personally. In fact, China officially ended its international adoption program last month, so we are also witnessing history as we speak.

What have you learned so far during the research process? How has your focus changed over time?

My advisors first directed me to look at the 1990s, which was the peak of United States adoption from China. However, while working in the archives, I learned about a legal barrier preventing Jewish Americans from adopting white Christian children, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. There was a law called the Religious Statute in Family Law, which required adopted children to be matched with parents of the same faith; in social work and legal status, they treated children’s religion as their inseparable heritage. This affected people on a regional basis, especially in the Northeast and New England.

In my master’s paper, I focused on Jewish Americans and how they jumped through hoops to adopt children. There were several additional factors affecting this, including the rise of medical infertility rates in Jewish community, especially since the 1950s. Community reports estimated that by the 1990s, one in six Jewish parents were infertile. This is something that is not talked about much. When you go to archives, you can see materials from community organizers trying to figure out what caused this and attempt to address it. Another reason that there were challenges for Jewish Americans is that most Jewish children were born within marriage, so not a lot were available for adoption.

At first, I was looking at the 1990s, but now I am focusing on the 1950s and 1960s and taking a more historical approach.

What drew you to this topic and to Jewish studies more broadly? Why do you think this topic is an important one to research?

I see a gap between the literature regarding Jewish Americans and the social welfare system and that of critical adoption studies. The former focuses on religion, while the latter focuses mostly on race. Jewish Americans fall in between as both an ethnic and a religious minority, which makes their dilemma often overlooked in studies. In critical adoption studies, there is often a presumed binary of “the white adopters vs. the non-white adoptees.” I think the dilemma between race and religion many American Jews experience challenges the binary understanding of race and ethnic relations in the States. I want to produce a more balanced study, respecting the traumas of both adoptive parents and adoptees.

When I first came to the United States to study, I encountered a lot of casual antisemitism on campus, which sparked my interest in Jewish history. I wasn’t Jewish at the time (I later converted), but it made me want to check out the Jewish community – I kept going to events and found it was a community that I could see myself in. I ended up transferring to Boston University, where I studied Jewish history and minored in Jewish studies, and now I’m here at Brandeis. And I came because of the Jewish connection and values here – I wanted to come to Brandeis so I could be unapologetically Jewish. And I love that we have Jewish holidays off!

You received a grant from the Jews of Color Initiative (JoCI) to support you in your project. How did that come about?

I knew I wanted to write about Jews of color for my master’s paper. I went to the Jews of Color Initiative’s information session about grants and who can apply; they let me know that my research was qualified and encouraged me to apply. They have a specific research grant, so I applied for that and got funds to complete my research. I completed my MA research but didn’t use up all the funds. So JoCI just renewed the remaining funding this year so I can continue working on this topic for my doctoral studies.

Are there any people at Brandeis who especially helped you with your research?

My advisor, ChaeRan Freeze, and Jonathan Sarna both read my paper and gave me a sense of direction. They initially gave me direction into the 1990s, but without that, I wouldn’t have found the documents I was looking for.

When you’re not working on your research, what else do you like to do?

I like going to my temple in Waltham and spending time with my friends there. We’ve given it the joke name “Temple Beth Hannaford” because it’s right across from there. I love baseball. Red Sox, please be better! I also like gardening. I am mom to three hamsters: Riceball, Curry, and Mango.

What advice do you have for other students exploring their passions?

The project I took on is very heavy emotionally and research-wise – when I went to the meeting of the Jews of Color Initiative, most participants were working with teams, and I was feeling the weight of history on my shoulders. The project is mentally and physically taxing since I need to do a lot of research, writing, and travel by myself. But I would say to not be intimidated by the workload. Just keep pushing because what you’re doing is very important, whether you’re working as an individual or as a group.