Reviews
"In Voyages, diaspora is given a human face. . . . Small weaves her stories and analysis with a clarity and compelling attentiveness to logic that do not sacrifice intricacy and nuance. . . . Voyages is an important and thoughtful work. It supplies much-needed critical scholarship on a vastly understudied group of American immigrants. It extensively clarifies with illuminating precision and lucidity the interplay of macro- and micro-levels of transnationalism. And it breathes fresh air and careful self-reflexivity in ethnographic work without succumbing to capacious navel gazing. Small's book is a useful complement to the literature on Diaspora and can well find its rightful place within the scholarship on comparative ethnic studies. Scholars in the fields will learn much from Small's intelligent braiding of grounded materiality with insightful theorizing. Her style of alternative ethnography can also serve as a model for those who are interested in moving beyond the conventional methodological boundaries imposed by social science disciplines."--Journal of Asian American Studies, "While a few Californians may be aware of the Tongan immigrant population in their midst, most Americans are unaware that the United States is a major terminus for the people of Tonga, an island nation in the South Pacific. Small examines Tongan migration to the United States in a 'transnational' perspective, stressing that many of the new migrant populations seem successfully to manage dual lives, in both the old country and the new. To that end, she describes life in contemporary Tongan communities and in U.S. settings."--Library Journal, "Cathy Small's study of migration between Tonga and the United States is at once a masterful case study of emerging global social relations at the micro level and a fascinating mediation on the questions migration poses about the role of the ethnographer. . . . Few authors have managed to document the social and economic effects of contemporary migration with such well-rendered detail and such sensitivity to migration's consequences for individuals, families, and communities. Voyages is a valuable contribution to the literature on immigration and on Asian Americans. Its clear, informal prose style also makes it an ideal book for undergraduate or graduate classes in anthropology, sociology, cultural geography, or Asian American studies."--International Migration Review, "Cathy A. Small's commentaries are graceful, informative, and seasoned by a very deep knowledge of Tongan culture. This book includes one of the sanest and most convincing arguments that I have read for experimentation in the writing of ethnography, which is supported by the text itself as an exemplar of a modest, theoretically unpretentious experiment that works very well indeed."--George E. Marcus, Rice University, "Cathy A. Small does a wonderful job of putting a human face on a global topic."--The Arizona Republic, "In Voyages, diaspora is given a human face. . . . Small weaves her stories and analysis with a clarity and compelling attentiveness to logic that do not sacrifice intricacy and nuance. . . . Voyages is an important and thoughtful work. It supplies much-needed critical scholarship on a vastly understudied group of American immigrants. It extensively clarifies with illuminating precision and lucidity the interplay of macro- and micro-levels of transnationalism. And it breathes fresh air and careful self-reflexivity in ethnographic work without succumbing to capacious navel gazing. Small's book is a useful complement to the literature on Diaspora and can well find its rightful place within the scholarship on comparative ethnic studies. Scholars in the fields will learn much from Small's intelligent braiding of grounded materiality with insightful theorizing. Her style of alternative ethnography can also serve as a model for those who are interested in moving beyond the conventional methodological boundaries imposed by social science disciplines."-Journal of Asian American Studies, "Cathy A. Small does a wonderful job of putting a human face on a global topic."-The Arizona Republic, "Cathy Small's study of migration between Tonga and the United States is at once a masterful case study of emerging global social relations at the micro level and a fascinating mediation on the questions migration poses about the role of the ethnographer. . . . Few authors have managed to document the social and economic effects of contemporary migration with such well-rendered detail and such sensitivity to migration's consequences for individuals, families, and communities. Voyages is a valuable contribution to the literature on immigration and on Asian Americans. Its clear, informal prose style also makes it an ideal book for undergraduate or graduate classes in anthropology, sociology, cultural geography, or Asian American studies."-International Migration Review, "Voyages is written within the genre of 'new ethnography', by incorporating reflexivity, stepping beyond the traditions of ethnographic writing, and acknowledging the transnational and historically contextualised nature of the people about whom the book is written. . . . Small describes life for family members in the village in Tonga and in the U.S. and discusses the movement of money, goods, knowledge and people between those at home and those overseas. . . . The depth of her finely detailed account provides valuable insights into the impact of migration on individuals' lives and interrelationships."-Helen Morton, Oceania, "To write a book that is both educational and entertaining is to be at once scholarly, thoughtful, and witty--a major achievement. . . . Cathy Small understands what migration has meant, and still means in everyday lives, as she empathizes with the plight of islanders uncertain over their landfall and destiny, and she captures their own stories beautifully. . . . One of the most passionate and compassionate books on the South Pacific in recent years."--Pacific, "Voyages is written within the genre of 'new ethnography', by incorporating reflexivity, stepping beyond the traditions of ethnographic writing, and acknowledging the transnational and historically contextualised nature of the people about whom the book is written. . . . Small describes life for family members in the village in Tonga and in the U.S. and discusses the movement of money, goods, knowledge and people between those at home and those overseas. . . . The depth of her finely detailed account provides valuable insights into the impact of migration on individuals' lives and interrelationships."--Helen Morton, Oceania, "To write a book that is both educational and entertaining is to be at once scholarly, thoughtful, and witty-a major achievement. . . . Cathy Small understands what migration has meant, and still means in everyday lives, as she empathizes with the plight of islanders uncertain over their landfall and destiny, and she captures their own stories beautifully. . . . One of the most passionate and compassionate books on the South Pacific in recent years."-Pacific, "Among the strengths of this immensely readable book is the presentation of aspects of the contemporary Tongan migration experience through dialogue and life histories. . . . The accessibility of its style and the immediacy of the texture of everyday experience that it evokes will make it especially appealing to a wide range of students."--Australian Journal of Anthropology, "The central idea of the book--that Tonga and all Tongans exist at this moment in time in a transnational space--comes through vividly and powerfully, and the durability of this image is testimony to the success of Small's experiment in ethnographic writing."--The Contemporary Pacific, "Cathy A. Small's commentaries are graceful, informative, and seasoned by a very deep knowledge of Tongan culture. This book includes one of the sanest and most convincing arguments that I have read for experimentation in the writing of ethnography, which is supported by the text itself as an exemplar of a modest, theoretically unpretentious experiment that works very well indeed."-George E. Marcus, Rice University
