From Africa to America: Religion and Adaptation Among Ghanaian Immigrants in New York (review)

In From Africa to America: Religion and Adaptation among Ghanaian Immigrants in New York, Professor Moses O. Biney of New York Theological Seminary has utilized exceptional research skills to offer a successful demonstration that "African immigrants have brought their religious practices with them to the United States" (p. 2). He explains: "This is evident from the numerous African religious communities that have been formed in many cities and towns since the 1980s" (p. 2).

The central argument of the book is "that immigrant religious congregations are not merely 'ethnic enclaves' that offer members safe havens" (p. 3). These churches are not mere places, where their home culture, norms, and values are preserved from the onslaught of American sociocultural values: rather, they are "spaces and communities, where 'home culture' and 'host society culture' interrogate one another, where experimentation, innovation, conflict, and cohesion take place" (p. 3). The author writes that through Christian worship community life, immigrant congregations continue to influence the process toward the maintenance of a balance between (a) the adjustment needed to succeed in America and contribute to the strength of its society, and (b) the preservation of immigrants' cultural particularity and, indeed, control over their identities.

Apart from eight chapters, the book has acknowledgments, a detailed and useful introduction, copious notes, a bibliography, and an index. With respect to the research and facts utilized, Professor Biney has taken the painstaking route to make sure that the users of this book benefit from his research. Toward that end, he has provided such topical nuances as a research process (pp. 5-7) and an outline of the book (pp. 7-8). Usefully, the book discusses in detail African immigration in general, with specific references to Ghanaians and U.S. immigration.

In the conclusion, Professor Biney adds that, in this book, he has attempted to showcase the community and the religious lives of Ghanaian immigrants in New York City as well as to demonstrate through the case study of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana their process of adaptation. This book is, indeed, an excellent book, with a social and religious scholarly approach that should be found both important and useful by scholars, teachers, and students of the interdisciplinary spectrum.