Reviews
“Espiritu has captured the poignancy of those immigrants who came looking for opportunity to fulfill their dreams, only to be denied at every level of society.”—M. P. Onorato, Emeritus, California State University - Fullerton Choice: Current Reviews For Academic Libraries
“Discusses Filipino immigrants in San Diego and how they use their memories of their country to construct a new home in the United States.”—Chronicle Of Higher Education
"Home Bound is the very sort of theoretically innovative and empirically grounded work that scholars . . . come to expect from Yen Le Espiritu. Clearly a book that will have a substantial and lasting effect in various social science and interdisciplinary fields . . . and the insightful concepts she develops."—Jonathan Y. Okamira Journal Of Intl Migration & Integration
“Both poignant and provocative, theoretical and textual. More than a history of Filipino American migrations and experiences, rather it attempts to chart a new course of the scholarly study of immigration.”—James A. Tyner Southern California Qtly
“Well researched and lucidly written.”—Judy Yung Western Historical Qtly
"In this highly original and inspired book, Espiritu bursts the binaries and shows us how the tensions of race, gender, nation, and colonial legacies situate contemporary transnationalism. Conceptually rich and empirically grounded, Home Bound blurs the borders of sociology and cultural studies like no other book I know. Kudos to Espiritu for this boundary-breaking tour de force!"—Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, author of
Domestica: Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence
"A singular achievement. Not only does it cast light on the deep historical entanglements of immigration and imperialism, citizenship and race, and gender and subjectivity in the United States, but by highlighting the varied voices of Filipino Americans, it also calls attention to their creative potential to make a home under some of the most inhospitable conditions. Theoretically rich, empirically grounded, and lucidly written, this book marks a major advance in our attempts to understand the 'specter of migration' haunting the world today."—Vicente L. Rafael, author of White Love and Other Events in Filipino History
"Home Bound combines excellent ethnography of the Filipino experience in the U.S. with a brilliant and devastating critique of traditional scholarship on immigration. Espiritu's analysis of how the vectors of identity articulate with one another is particularly cutting-edge."—Sarah J. Mahler, author of American Dreaming: Immigrant Life on the Margins
"Using a critical transnational, feminist, and historical perspective, Espiritu insightfully and sensitively analyzes the meaning of home, community, friendship, love, and family for Filipino Americans. In the process, she unveils what these immigrants can tell us about gender, race, politics, economics, and culture in the United States today."—Diane L. Wolf, author of Factory Daughters: Gender, Household Dynamics, and Rural Industrialization in Java
"Espiritu makes an outstanding contribution to our appreciation of the dynamics of immigrant cultures within the political economy of transnationalism."—Lisa Lowe, author of Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics
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