Meanderings on the Making of a Diasporic Hybrid Identity [Hardcover]

Half testimonio half theoretical reflection on the construction of a hybrid cultural condition, this is a well-written and fascinating book. Contrary to cryptic academic books, Gray graciously intertwines testimonio, family, and historical recollections, and abstract concepts to identify unexpected connections and revelations in the making of Dominican-American identity. Her gendered perspective anchors discussions about race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, literacy and her Abuelitas patio in Santo Domingo as the locus of persistent and influential memories. Clearly, for Gray, writing this book is a way of healing the open wounds of exile and of mourning and overcoming the loss inherent in being transplanted to American culture. If I were to characterize Meanderings on the Making of a Diasporic Hybrid Identity in three adjectives, I would say: deep, versatile, and clear.In Meanderings on the Making of a Diasporic Hybrid Identity, the author, Dulce Mar?a Gray, describes her journey from her birth in the Dominican Republic, her immigration as a child to the United States, growing up in the Bronx, and becoming a scholar with a Ph.D. She analyzes her experiences fighting labels, categorizations, and denigrating perceptions about Latinos and the often painful process of negotiating her ethnic identity until she arrives at a more intellectual and liberated way of seeing herself. Dr. Grays passion and respect for writing is palpable. She finds that writing provides the means to understand and shape her own development; she writes: when I consider my self, that self reveals itself to me and thus I change, usually for the better. Dr. Grays stories about herself, her family and friends are interwoven with her two countries histories, creating a beautiful personal and cultural tapestry.Profound in its sincerity, in its cartography of the often painful journey to arrive at a self that is realigned with the cosmic grace that sustains our everydayness, and which her pallC+