America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility
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.
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America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility
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.
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America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

by Rajika Bhandari
America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

by Rajika Bhandari

Paperback

$17.95 
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Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781647421830
Publisher: She Writes Press
Publication date: 09/14/2021
Pages: 298
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

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.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Part I

1 Two Suitcases 11

2 Coke, Cookies, and Church Sales 23

3 You Can't Go Home Again 33

4 Classroom Lessons 41

5 It Takes a Village 53

6 Learning to Drive 64

7 A Change of Seasons 74

8 Patel-Motel: Indians in America 85

9 History Lessons 97

10 Coupon Queen 108

Part II

11 Foreign-Returned 125

12 Foreign and Female: A Complex Calculation 139

13 The Best and Brightest 152

14 A Temporary Arrangement 163

15 The World Ends 178

16 Code Switching: Resident Alien and Nonresident Indian 187

17 A New Beginning 200

Part III

18 Made in America: The Lure of a US Degree 207

19 Unofficial Ambassadors 219

20 A United Nations on Campus 230

21 America Calling: A Troubled Tango 240

22 "Get Out of My Country" 253

Epilogue 263

Selected Bibliography 273

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