Imposter Syndrome

L. Calcasola
Boston, MA

As a Chinese adoptee (found and adopted in Jiangxi, ‘95) I often joke about going through imposter syndrome and an Asian American reckoning twice. I had the adoptee reckoning (China’s One Child Policy splitting me from my biological family and what this means to my identity in an Italian-American family) and my Asian American reckoning (the only Asian in my family; what does it mean to be Chinese if my history and the history of my ancestors has been erased permanently?) Asian Americans have felt displaced and victim to imposter syndrome in the American fabric for decades, perpetually foreigners even if we’re fifth generation. As an adult I still struggle with imposter syndrome and am curious to relearn my Chinese roots and reclaim them as my own.