Ije: An Immigrant's Voyage into Prince Edward Island Life takes its meaning from the Igbo word for journey, and spotlights the narratives of immigrants to Prince Edward Island, shining light on their individual experiences. This collection of personal reflections, interviews, photo essays, and visual works of art includes themes of belonging, imposed and realized identities, cultural traditions, culinary symbols, living the contradictions of social norms. From chefs to hairdressers, academics to entrepreneurs, Ije encompasses the resilience of a people inspired to innovate their own community-driven solutions.
"Immigration is so much more than simply moving to a new place. Ije
is a brilliant anthology that captures stories rarely considered from
the citizen's perspective yet experienced so rawly and felt so deeply
from the immigrant's perspective. Ije is the book that PEI needs in this very moment." Tamara Steele, Director of the Black Cultural Society of PEI
"Elizabeth Iwunwa is the right-on-time curator of this righteous
assembly of views, interviews, art, and photos, all depicting the
Come-From-Far-Away Islanders who have found anchorage in the harbour of
Confederation and a new homeland on soil as red and promising as the
dawn. Charming and charismatic, personable and penetrating, Iwunwa maps a
community of Islanders whose odysseys have taught them that all of
Earth is an island, one where we all must find refuge, amid the endless,
bone-chilling ocean of space." George Elliott Clarke, Author of Where Beauty Survived: An Africadian Memoir (Knopf Canada)
