Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering [Paperback]

Suzanne Kamata (Editor), Leza Lowitz (Contributor), Holly Thompson (Contributor), Marie Lamba (Contributor), Rose Kent (Contributor), Xujun Eberlein (Contributor), Andrea Martins (Contributor), Dee Thompson (Contributor), Saffia Farr (Contributor), Katherine Barrett (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1932279334 | ISBN-13: 978-1932279337

What happens when your child doesn't speak your native language? How do you maintain cultural traditions while living outside your native country? And how can you raise a child with two cultures without fracturing his/her identity? From our house to your house - to the White House - more and more mothers are facing questions such as these. Whether through intercultural marriage, international adoption or peripatetic lifestyles, families these days are increasingly multicultural. In this collection, women around the world, such as Xujun Eberlein, Violet Garcia-Mendoza, Rose Kent, Marie Lamba, Leza Lowitz, Holly Thompson, Saffia Farr, and others, ponder the unique joys and challenges of raising children across two or more cultures. Suzanne Kamata's short work has appeared in over 100 publications. She is the author of a novel, LOSING KEI, and a picture book, PLAYING FOR PAPA, both of which concern bicultural families. She is also the editor of two previous anthologies - THE BROKEN BRIDGE: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan and LOVE YOU TO PIECES: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs, and is currently fiction editor of "Literary Mama". Born and raised in Michigan and most recently from South Carolina, she now lives in rural Japan with her Japanese husband and bicultural twins.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Kamata offers beautiful and sometimes treacherous maps of the territory that multicultural parents face. They are maps that such families need, and it is up to the reader to continue the conversation." --The Japan Times

"Kamata has produced an interesting book. [Suggested] for young adults and older, to help understand culturally blended families and avoid awkward situations."  --MultiCultural Review

"This book is a treasure to read...packed with emotional honesty and multicultural wisdom, making it very relevant to the peripatetic lifestyle we lead." --Destinations

"For any family that is living abroad or is planning to move abroad, this book offers superlative insight into the issues and challenges that families may face and is a must read for both parents." --J Select Magazine

"Call Me Okaasan...is a powerful commentary on motherhood...[The book] celebrates the uniqueness of biracial children. It also deals with the myriad emotions suffered by their parents." --The Telegraph

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932279334
• ISBN-13: 978-1932279337
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,070,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Much needed addition to expatriate literature May 13, 2009

By Robin Pascoe

Format:Paperback

The contributors to this lovely and almost lyrical anthology of mothering far from home, face all the regular roadblocks of raising healthy and happy children and then some. This collection will resonate with so many expatriate families or those who have chosen to live abroad. More importantly, buried in the narratives are many true gems of wisdom of cross-cultural mothering.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Real, meaningful stories March 15, 2010

By Andrew Couturier

Format:Paperback

I am not a mother, but through my sister I do have a close relationship with a bi-cultural child, and I found the stories in this book very moving. One story by Leza Lowitz was so moving and affecting that I was stopped stark in my tracks imagining all the ways that cultural ideas and norms smack hard into emotions and real-world decisions as this woman, a powerful writer, grapples with one of the largest decisions of her life. One scene, such a well drawn, quiet scene with a little boy walking up to an injured cat in a huge city, and stopping to comfort the cat moved me very deeply. The writing in this story glowed. Another piece I really responded to and remembered (it's been more than 6 months since I read this book and I still remember this story) was an essay by a woman who is partially of Indian descent with a partly African-American partner has two children, and how one of them is born with white skin, and another, full sisters, is born with brown skin, and how this wise mother grapples with both her own feelings as a person of color in the US, and her predictions and emotions about how these two sisters will grow up. The work of the editor here, in choosing what stories and essays are important for us to read, is evident throughout. Her ability to spot, and highlight, those with real punch make the collection itself much more than your standard thematic hodgepodge of loosely related pieces of writing. If you care about children who are ripped between two cultures, and what they go through, definitely pick up this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful, Inspiring, Diverse . . . ! February 4, 2010

By Osaka Lady

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

To all multi-cultural mamas, dads, children, expats, TCKs, etc -

I've had a hard time finding reading material (specifically personal stories) related to the area of raising children overseas/multiculturally. "Call Me Okaasan" not only fills a niche, but very entertainingly and movingly so.

Thank you Suzanne for putting this together and giving us all a little perspective. I've already given it as a present and probably will again.

Arigato!