America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

Bhandari, Rajika

ISBN 10: 1647421837 / ISBN 13: 9781647421830

Published by She Writes Press, 2021

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 1647421837-4-35287010

Bibliographic Details

• Title: America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility
• Publisher: She Writes Press
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1647421837
• ISBN 13: 9781647421830
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Fair
• Weight: 14 ounces

About this title

Synopsis

Growing up in middle-class India, Rajika Bhandari has seen generations of her family look westward, where an American education means status and success. But she resists the lure of America because those who left never return—they all become flies trapped in honey in a land of opportunity. As a young woman, however, she finds herself heading to a US university to study, following her heart and a relationship.

When that relationship ends and she fails in her attempt to move back to India as a foreign-educated woman, she returns to the US and finds herself in a job where the personal is political and professional: she is immersed in the lives of international students who come to America from over 200 countries, the universities that attract them, and the tangled web of immigration that a student must navigate.

An unflinching and insightful narrative that explores the global appeal of a Made in America education that is a bridge to America’s successful past and to its future, America Calling is both a deeply personal story of Bhandari’s search for her place and voice, and an incisive analysis of America’s relationship with the rest of the world through the most powerful tool of diplomacy: education. At a time of growing nationalism, a turning inward, and fear of the “other,” America Calling is ultimately a call to action to keep America’s borders—and minds—open.

About the Author

A former international student from India to the US and an Indian American immigrant, Rajika Bhandari is an international higher education expert, a widely published author, and a sought-after speaker on issues of international education, skilled immigrants, and educational and cultural diplomacy. An author of five academic books and one previous nonfiction book, Dr. Bhandari is quoted frequently in the global press, and her writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Chronicle of Higher Education, HuffPost, University World News, Times Higher Education, and the Diplomatic Courier, among others. She lives outside New York City.