Mitigating harm is a central focus to the oral history research-creation PHD project on the life stories of individuals who have experienced transracial and intercountry adoption. Engaging with stories of separation from the mother and the longing to reconnect with origins is not a painless process. Telling one’s own story evokes tough remembering and the conversation on intercountry/ transracial adoption is emotionally charged with some approaching it as a charity that saves the life of an orphaned child while others consider it as a colonial practice that rips off the child from the origins. While developing my research methodology, I had many questions about my legitimacy to invite others to unfold their stories. In parallel, I was concerned with the impact of performing controversial matters to the public.

The objectives of the workshop are as the following:

• experiencing the collaborative storytelling research methodology
  
• exploring some ethical concerns associated with going public with difficult stories.
  
• offering an insight on approaches to mitigating harm while attempting to address the ethical concerns evolving around the risk of voyeurism, honesty, personal bias, personal limitations, confusions, emotional reliability, memory, and history?