Homelands: Women's Journeys Across Race, Place, and Time (Paperback)

by Patricia Justine Tumang (Editor), Jenesha de Rivera (Editor), Edwidge Danticat (Foreword) "As migrant farmworkers, my family's stays in any given place were intense, temporary, and short-lived..." (more)
Key Phrases: original marchers, host father, United States, New York, Auntie Esther (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In Homelands, writers investigate the complexities of how women experience, remember, and imagine journeys to their homelands. Approaching the topic from varying perspectives — exile, longing, belonging, diaspora, idealization — they show that “homeland” isn't just a physical place. It can also be an imagined community, a part of one's identity, or simply a wavering memory. It’s a world we create and re-create every day.

Among the contributors are Etel Adnan, who describes her life as an exile from Beruit after choosing to leave a city at war. Agate Nesaule, who as a youngster left Latvia under Nazi and Soviet threat, writes of envying a young Latvian girl's life, rich in place, language, and music. Sarah McCormic echoes the experience of many “American mutts” who can claim so many heritages that they feel a connection to none.

The writers in this collection beautifully capture the complicated notion of homeland and reflect the diversity of women's realities in the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press (November 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158005188X
• ISBN-13: 978-1580051880
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #141,814 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars courageous, February 20, 2007

By	Kevin W. Dolorico "technomaster" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I own this book (and other anthologies by Seal Press) and have read it cover to cover. It is an important book and the stories are timely. The writing is excellent, fresh and insightful. The women in this book are courageous and their stories have made a deep impression on me. I plan to share the book with my friends.

The reviewer below is obviously not aware that Seal Press is a small feminist press that is doing really great work in publishing important books by women, experiences that are often overlooked in mainstream publishing. If you're looking for a travel book, this isn't it. If you're looking for rich stories that capture the essence of women's struggles to find home, then this book is perfect for you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stories we need to read, March 27, 2007

By	Elmaz Abinader "elmaza" (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Through reading the Homelands Anthology, I am reminded that every woman I see on street, in the subway, at the market is holding a story in her heart that hearkens to the place that calls her. Whether she loves that home or struggles with it, whether she wants to return or never see it again, that home, family or culture is an inexorable part of her that affects her every step. Providing glimpses into the lives of American women who come from places as far-reaching as Latvia and Lebanon, as close as the Bronx and Oakland, this collection reminds us of our own discomfort when we are challenged by own identity, by society and by our own family. The editors Tumang and de Rivera wisely selected writers of several generations, familiar and unfamiliar cultures, and well as diverse classes and levels of education. They open a window on the enormous tragedies of loss and displacement and the smaller more intimate moments of acceptance at home and in the self. I am reminded of the many women who have taken the many journeys that brought me and everyone I know to this time and this place. I make it a point to support a book such as this that provides these kinds of histories that are not easy to find in the mainstream. I am choosing it as a text for my fall semester classes

0 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars less than, January 31, 2007

By	lulu "adventure traveler and photographer" (seattle wa) - See all my reviews

i was not impressed by the writing and sent the book back