Becoming American.

Becoming American Personalized Essays by First Generation Immigrant Women edited by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah Hyperion, February 2000, $23.95 ISBN 0-786-86589-X

This collection of twenty-three personal essays by first-generation immigrant women--including Nina Barragan (Argentina), Edwidge Danticat (Haiti), Lynn Freed (South Africa), Akuyoe Graham (Ghana), Ginu Kamani (India), Helie Lee (Korea) and Joyce Zonana (Egypt)--focuses on identity in the context of such issues as race, ethnicity, culture, nationalism and assimilation.

In her introduction, Danquah, author of Willow Weep for Me, writes, "this book is about how we--not only as immigrants, but also as people--define ourselves. Perhaps more important, it is about how we either created or came upon these definitions."

In "Embracing the Alien," Freed tells of exploring her immigrant experience through her writing, and coming face-to-face with the truth about her "bifurcated life." For Graham ("The Remembering"), the process of becoming American soon gave way to remembering and respecting herself as an African, while recognizing the possibilities for becoming, as an American, whatever she chose for herself. Nelly Rosario confronts the complexity of the meaning of culture, and what we choose as our culture, summarizing "we are all in transition, becoming something else, giving birth to new selves."

The varied voices and experiences that make up this collection strike one common chord sung succinctly by Suheir Hammad (India): "I will never be as American as apple pie." Yet, this realization is not to be seen as loss or with regret. Rather, it heralds the celebration of the self in its totality, and of all the possibilities for accepting and manifesting that fullness. As Freed notes, "I do not belong here, and I have had to turn not belonging into a triumph."

Denolyn Carroll is assistant managing editor at Essence. She has written for several publications and lectures on writing and editing at Pace University.