... a powerful collection of prose pieces, poems and visual art that celebrates the plurality of migrants present in the United States. A timely and necessary text, this collection of personal narratives expands the discussion around migration by spotlighting members of the LGBTQ community and showing how something as incredibly hard and complex as migration can be made ever more so by something as basic as one’s identity and sexuality ... proves that very different voices telling unique stories can, when presented together, become a very cohesive, very humane manifesto. Featuring artists from Mexico — which is often the only country discussed when undocumented migration comes up — as well as the Dominican Republic, South Asia, El Salvador, Argentina, Chile, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Brazil, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines, the voices in Somewhere We Are Human exist in a very real space in which immigration status, creativity and identity coexist and have a huge impact on each other ... these identities and the role they play — underline an important reality: While being an undocumented migrant is hard, it can be much worse when you have to exist in — and then move to — unwelcoming spaces as someone whose identity is misunderstood, discriminated against or seen as problematic.
... covers a wide geographical range as the authors recount their physical and emotional journeys predicated by the heart-rendering circumstances that led to their families leaving home ... The immense variety in the contributors’ personal experiences is impressive, ranging from those who have obtained citizenship and green cards to those under the DACA program or seeking asylum or having been deported or exiled. They touch on so many different facets of the immigrant experience that readers will find much to ponder, while the varying styles and approaches provide opportunities to learn from the lives of others and also to experience how creative writing enriches our understanding of each other and our lives.
The work is expertly curated, encompassing not only a variety of races and ethnicities, but also a wide swath of sexual and gender identities. Several of the pieces are formally inventiveAlthough no compilation can ever capture every immigrant experience, this expansive text captures more than most, incorporating exciting new voices with more established ones and representing a truly kaleidoscopic range of lives. Though several pieces don’t rise to the level of the others, this is an important, instructive book ... An innovative, artful collection of diverse, undocumented voices.
