Book Review: Immigrant Women Tell Their Stories

Abstract

Review the book 'Immigrant Women Tell Their Stories,' by Roni Berger (2004). The book is about women and their experience as migrants. By applying a gender lens, Berger uncovers many of the complexities involved in the push and pull of immigration as experienced uniquely by women. Special attention to women in migration is rare, and in those cases where women are taken into account, it is usually as a by-product, which mutes their voices. Eighteen women were interviewed for this study. It is a diverse group of women with different personal backgrounds and different reasons for migration. The women's narratives present their subjective perception and interpretation of migration as situational knowledge. The author, herself an immigrant, can acutely understand the sentiments women express about their experiences as migrants in a culture that is unknown to them. An added value of the narrative approach is that the author does not study immigrants but rather the people who experience immigration. Applying an ethnographic approach to her research, Roni Berger allows the women's voices to speak for themselves, telling their experiences and thus revealing the various stages women progress through as immigrants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)