Questioning the ability and willingness of immigrants to participate in the public life of their adopted country has been a common theme in the United States for hundreds of years. Regardless of the low civic and political participation of native-born Americans themselves, immigrants seem to forever be on the defensive, criticized for their lack of participation, for their self-segregation and split loyalties. How can they assimilate or integrate or adapt to American life, if they spend their time isolating themselves in their houses of worship and ethnic organizations, focussing on events in home countries? Even those Americans who seek to create a more welcoming and inclusive society often want to expand efforts to teach immigrants how to become involved in their new communities. Brettell and Reed-Danahay have written a carefully researched book that serves as a corrective to these perspectives. In Civic Engagements, they show again and again that it is in ethnically circumscribed temples, mosques, and churches; in ethnic organizations; and during ethnic festivals and banquets that immigrants learn to enter the American civic sphere as responsible American citizens.

Brettel and Reed-Danahay are anthropologists. In Civic Engagements: The Citizenship Practices of Indian & Vietnamese Immigrants, they rely on an ethnographic study of Indian and Vietnamese immigrants in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. In addition to analyzing how these immigrants become civically engaged in first and second generations, the authors explore the ways immigrants themselves understand what it means to be American and to be involved in the public sphere. Instead of taking the social-capital approach to the study of civic participation à la Putnam, they use the concept of “communities of practices” and emphasize the process of learning that brings together cultural integrity, interest in the homeland, and involvement with the local community. Indian and Vietnamese immigrants are major immigrant groups in the area, and despite differences in immigration trajectories, class, and language abilities, members of both groups are involved in emplacement activities that communicate their right to belong.

Much of the book is description of organizational activity, illustrated by stories of individuals. In chapter 2, Brettel and Reed-Danahay draw on interviews with young people and their parents to explore how immigrants understand citizenship in its legal, social, and political implications. Chapter 3 focusses on acquisition of civic skills and claims-making through religious institutions. In chapter 4, the authors turn to ethnic associations, profiling two men and two women leaders and their trajectories of involvement in the ethnic community. Chapter 5 is based on observation of Indian and Vietnamese festivals and banquets. Aside from teaching crucial organizational skills, these ethnic events are a way of communicating a presence to the wider community. Chapter 6 rounds out the book with a look at activities, such as pan-Asian business associations and leadership training programs, which explicitly teach civic skills to immigrants. After a somewhat tangential reference to spelling bees and beauty pageants, there is a profile of four more immigrants who are involved in the wider civic sphere.

Civic Engagements is a well-written and analytically astute book that will interest scholars in a variety of fields dealing with immigration, race and ethnicity, and civic and political participation, as well as religion, cultural studies, gender, and the family. In selecting material for the book, there were undoubtedly tough choices. A recurrent question for this reviewer was the relationship between Vietnamese and Indian immigrants and other minority groups, including African Americans and Latinos. Aside from a brief reference by one profiled immigrant activist to learning from these other groups, the book is largely silent on the subject, even though the authors also mention that blacks, as well as whites, are central to how Vietnamese immigrants understand being American, because of their contact with black American soldiers during the Vietnam War. This would seem an unfortunate omission. Similarly, it would have been interesting to know of any sense of solidarity – or lack thereof – with other immigrants, particularly since the research period encompassed the mass immigrant protests of 2006. Despite this criticism, Civic Engagements is a valuable addition to the literature, and opens up new avenues for research and theory.