The new edited collection by York sociologists Guida Man (YCAR Faculty Associate) and Rina Cohen will be launched next week at York University. 

Engendering Transnational Voices: Studies in Family, Work, and Identity was published by Wilfrid Lauirer University Press earlier this summer.

“The major goal of this project was to give voice to marginalized transnational im/migrants", said Man. “It fills a gap in the transnationalism literature by bringing together original papers that examine the transnational practices and identities of immigrant women, youth, children, and the elderly in an era of global migration and neoliberalism.”

The book will be launched at York on Wednesday, 30 September 2015 at 2:30pm in the Harry Crowe Room (Room 109 Atkinson). The event will also include a screening of ‘Journey to Find Myself Again’, a short documentary film produced by Tania Das Gupta and Srabani Maitra. The film presents the employment trajectories of three highly educated immigrant women from South Asia.

YCAR is an event co-sponsor.

“The book idea grew out of a series of very successful Canadian Sociological Association conference sessions that Guida and I have organized for over seven years,” said Cohen.

Several of the contributors to Engendering Transnational Voices are Cohen’s and Man’s Sociology colleagues, including Nancy Mandell, Ann Kim (YCAR Faculty Associate), Tania Das Gupta, Katharine King and Natalie Weiser.

“York does have one of the largest sociology departments in the country committed to do critical research, particularly in the area of women, work, and migration. So we are very fortunate to have our colleagues and students contributing to our volume,” they said.

Other York contributors include Carl E. James (Education) and Meg Luxton (School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies).

As with many large projects, things happen unexpectedly but the editors are pleased with the final product.

“We learned that the gestation period of a book can be very long and actually include multiple pregnancies. Finding a publisher was a bit tedious. We made some mistakes in this process of finding a publisher. The final delivery is not easy and the baby needs to be immunized against various childhood diseases - and, as any infant, it is not perfect. However, as good mothers, we love this project, despite its shortcomings.”

Cohen and Man hope that this project will develop into a new series that would focus on second generation transmigrants.

More about Engendering Transnational Voices: Studies in Family, Work, and Identity can be found here: http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/General/man-cohen-announcement.pdf