The Braided River: Migration and the Personal Essay

by Diane Comer

Overview

This book explores contemporary migration to New Zealand through an examination of 200 personal essays written by 37 migrants from 20 different countries, spanning all ages and life stages. The first book to examine migration through the lens of the personal essay, The Braided River presents migration as a lifelong experience that affects everything from language, home, work, family, and friendship to finances, citizenship, and social benefits.

Throughout, Diane Comer, both migrant and essayist herself, demonstrates the versatility of the personal essay as a means to analyze and understand migration, an issue with increasing relevance worldwide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781988531533
Publisher:	Otago University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2019
Edition description:	None
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Diane Comer was born in Italy and grew up in the Dominican Republic, Belgium, and the United States. She received her PhD from the University of Canterbury. Her essays have been published in AGNI, The Georgia Review, Fourth Genre and elsewhere, and were noted in the Best American Essays series. She teaches at Victoria University of Wellington.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 9

Introduction: The Headwaters of the River 11

Chapter 1 Roots - The River Under the River 33

Chapter 2 Routes - Writing Between Two Shores 75

Chapter 3 Closing the Distance 117

Chapter 4 The Second Cup of Tea-On Belonging 155

Chapter 5 The Migration of Identity 199

Chapter 6 The Gift of Return 237

Notes 259

Bibliography 277

Index 287