Aminta Arrington

Aminta Arrington examines language, family life, and intercultural experience in China through her work as a teacher and memoirist. She studied international relations at Johns Hopkins and attended Waseda University in Tokyo, later writing about China for the Seattle Times and China Daily. Home is a Roof Over a Pig recounts how her family moved from Georgia to Shandong Province shortly before the Beijing Olympics. Arrington, her Army husband, and their three children lived near Taian while the parents taught English at a medical college. Their middle child had been adopted from China, an experience that inspired her interest in Chinese language and culture. Published by Overlook in 2012, the memoir uses Chinese characters and encounters to explore ideas about home, education, gender, religion, and belonging. Arrington also edited Saving Grandmother's Face, an anthology by Christian teachers in China. Home is a Roof Over a Pig brings those interests together through a family narrative that treats language learning as a route into social values rather than isolated vocabulary lessons.