The Weight of Shadows

A Memoir of Immigration & Displacement

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Emigration & Immigration, Ethnic Studies, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book The Weight of Shadows by José Orduña, Beacon Press
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Author: José Orduña ISBN: 9780807074022
Publisher: Beacon Press Publication: April 12, 2016
Imprint: Beacon Press Language: English
Author: José Orduña
ISBN: 9780807074022
Publisher: Beacon Press
Publication: April 12, 2016
Imprint: Beacon Press
Language: English

Tracing his story of becoming a US citizen, José Orduña’s memoir explores the complex issues of immigration and assimilation.

José Orduña chronicles the process of becoming a North American citizen in a post-9/11 United States. Intractable realities—rooted in the continuity of US imperialism to globalism—form the landscape of Orduña’s daily experience, where the geopolitical meets the quotidian. In one anecdote, he recalls how the only apartment his parents could rent was one that didn’t require signing a lease or running a credit check, where the floors were so crooked he once dropped an orange and watched it roll in six directions before settling in a corner. Orduña describes the absurd feeling of being handed a piece of paper—his naturalization certificate—that guarantees something he has always known: he has every right to be here. A trenchant exploration of race, class, and identity, The Weight of Shadows is a searing meditation on the nature of political, linguistic, and cultural borders, and the meaning of “America.”

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Tracing his story of becoming a US citizen, José Orduña’s memoir explores the complex issues of immigration and assimilation.

José Orduña chronicles the process of becoming a North American citizen in a post-9/11 United States. Intractable realities—rooted in the continuity of US imperialism to globalism—form the landscape of Orduña’s daily experience, where the geopolitical meets the quotidian. In one anecdote, he recalls how the only apartment his parents could rent was one that didn’t require signing a lease or running a credit check, where the floors were so crooked he once dropped an orange and watched it roll in six directions before settling in a corner. Orduña describes the absurd feeling of being handed a piece of paper—his naturalization certificate—that guarantees something he has always known: he has every right to be here. A trenchant exploration of race, class, and identity, The Weight of Shadows is a searing meditation on the nature of political, linguistic, and cultural borders, and the meaning of “America.”

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