About the Book
SHIFTING BALANCE SHEETS: Women's Stories of Naturalized Citizenship & Cultural Attachment. A Wising Up Anthology. Editors: Heather Tosteson, Kerry Langan, Charles D. Brockett and Debra Gingerich. 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 teen-agers 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. Contributors: Cathy Adams, Anna Mae Anhalt, Patricia Barone, Elizabeth Bernays, Lisa Chan, Yu-Han Chao, Clementina, Mariel Coen, Linda D'Arcy, Madeline Geitz, Jennifer Bao Yu Jue-Steuck, Alicia Karls, Nikolina Kulidzan, Mariette Landry, Kerry Langan, Karen Levy, Karen Loeb, John Manesis, Katherine D. Perry, Donna Porter, Angelika Quirk, Amita Rao, Diane Raptosh, Lourdes Rosales-Guevara, Sonya Sabanac, Jian Dong Sakakeeny, Alexandrina Sergio, Azadeh Shahshahani, Maria Shockey, Sandra Soli, Julija Suput, Natalia O. Treviño, Boryana Zeitz, Weihua Zhang
