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Click here to order your copy
"…this book is a huge contribution to the expatriate experience. It addresses every aspect of the impact of the move: mind, body and spirit."
Kacie Liput, Corporate Expatriate Wife and
Community Organizer
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About the Book
Description of A Portable Identity
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Content
Part One of the book covers the entire process of identity loss (and change) over time, beginning with how a woman defined herself prior to her decision to move. We illustrate how her original identity picture goes through several alterations: first, by the impact of the decision to move; second, by the actual departure from her home country; third, by the entry into the foreign country; and, finally, by the addition of new roles and relationships in her life overseas. By illustrating these changes, a woman sees how her identity is in a state of transition.
Parts Two through Five of the book guide a woman to resolve this state of transition of her identity. She learns that having an identity in transition offers an opportunity for personal growth. She must make a critical choice to take charge of what is happening to her identity. We offer her a model for reconstructing her identity - The Wheel. The first step of The Wheel is to make a commitment to her self to take charge of how her identity is taking shape. She must be willing to grow, change, and to take risks. The second step of The Wheel is to access her personal resources, and the third step is to pick up tools for change. We describe the five resources and the seven tools individually, with examples for clarification. We demonstrate how The Wheel allows her to reconstruct her identity in a way that honors her sense of self and also allows her to be more adaptable to change. The result is a "portable" identity and a more successful adjustment to expatriate life. We also discuss how to apply The Wheel to future moves, including repatriation.
Format
The format of A Portable Identity is a composite of a workbook and a narrative. The material that we present is interspersed with our own personal stories about moving, living, and working overseas, as well as questions and exercises for the reader. We include our personal stories as examples of what we discuss, and also to inspire the reader to tell her own story. The reader, in effect, becomes the central character of our book. Through experiential exercises, she describes the effect of the overseas move on her identity, and has the opportunity to work through the steps of The Wheel to reconstruct her identity.
Audience/Readership
The primary reader of A Portable Identity is the woman who moves overseas in support of her husband's career. The book is written specifically for her, to support her experience and validate her needs as the trailing spouse during an international relocation. Historically, her needs have been secondary to the demands of her husband's career. The book allows her to focus on her self during a time when her life is largely defined outside of her self, as the "wife of" the employee who has been posted overseas.
Others will benefit from the book as well. For example, international human resource managers, relocation professionals, relocation specialists, and employee assistance professionals will find the book a valuable expatriate resource which they can provide or recommend to women moving and living overseas in support of their husbands' careers. In addition, the content of the book may also apply to male expatriate spouses (a growing population), as well as international expatriate women pursuing their own careers. In essence, A Portable Identity is about taking charge of change, regardless of a person's given situation.
About the Artwork and Graphics
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