Season 5, Ep. 2: First Person Plural

Saturday School Podcast

The second episode of Saturday School (Season 5) on Asian Americans in Asia is about the 2000 documentary "First Person Plural" by Deann Borshay Liem. It's a personal documentary about a Korean American adoptee who comes to realize she's not the person her American family thinks she is. And as she uncovers the mystery behind her identities, she brings her adoptive parents to Korea to meet her birth family for the first time.

Deann Borshay Liem was adopted in 1966, so her story is a predecessor to some of the Korean American adoptee documentaries we've seen more recently from younger generations, including "AKA Dan" and "Twinsters." Also, 10 years after "First Person Plural," Deann Borshay Liem made a sequel 2010's "In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee," and now that it's 8 years after that, someone tell her we need a 2020 update to round out the trilogy!

Mentioned in this episode:

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"Inheriting" is a show about Asian American and Pacific Islander families, which explores how one event in history can ripple through generations. In doing so, the show seeks to break apart the AAPI monolith and tell a fuller story of these communities. In each episode, NPR’s Emily Kwong sits down with one family and facilitates deeply emotional conversations between their loved ones, exploring how their most personal, private moments are an integral part of history. Through these stories, we show how the past is personal and how to live with the legacies we’re constantly inheriting. New episodes premiere every Thursday. Subscribe to “Inheriting” on your app of choice

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