SHIFTING BALANCE SHEETS Women's Stories of Naturalized
Citizenship & Cultural Attachment A Wising Up Anthology
Heather Tosteson, Kerry Langan, Charles D. Brockett & Debra Gingerich, Editors
In this anthology, thirty-four women and
girls from twenty countries, now living all across the U.S., reflect on their
journeys to naturalized U.S. citizenship - journeys that invite all of us,
native and foreign born, to consider what it means to choose to be an American.
In Chinese Daughters: All-American
Girls, American mothers whose
Chinese daughters have become naturalized citizens through adoption, and these
insightful teenagers themselves, ponder how their experiences of cross-national
adoption with a unique gender imperative influences their sense of personal,
cultural, national and global identity.
In Natural Women: Naturalized Citizens, women from Australia, Bulgaria, China, Croatia,
Cuba, England, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Taiwan and Zambia describe their
unique journeys to naturalized citizenship as adults - wondering what
womanhood, family, love, cultural identification, intellectual curiosity,
professional ambition, material need, war, revolution or chance have to do with
it. Their stories invite us all to think more generously and intentionally
about the invitations and expectations inherent in citizenship - and our shared
responsibility to shape, nurture, and celebrate the constantly changing We in
We, the People. 380 pp.