Exile, language and identity

‘Exile’ means a prolonged, usually enforced absence from one’s home or country. There is no paradigm for an exilic existence and no prescription of how to heal the loss of one’s home and one’s identity. Exiles move in space, migrating from one place to another, but they are trapped in time. They long for what they have lost and fear what is yet to come. Like the Roman god Janus, they constantly look both ways, often lacking language that would help them to reconnect with the world. This volume examines the process of the exile’s self-translation by rediscovering a way of expression for the ensnared experience. It requires a new language so that the self may take a new shape. By discussing the unavoidable losses wrought upon immigrants, exiles and refugees by the mere fact of being displaced, the authors hope to foster a better understanding of these problems and help to rebuild shattered identities and ruined lives.

The Editors: Magda Stroińska teaches German and Linguistics at McMaster University, Canada and is a research fellow at Kingston University, UK. Her research focuses on sociolinguistics, cross-cultural communication, cultural stereotyping, and propaganda. Her current project involves the effects of totalitarian propaganda in post-communist Eastern Europe.
Vittorina Cecchetto teaches Italian and Linguistics at McMaster University, Canada. Her research interests include the linguistic and identity problems encountered by immigrants and didactic stereotyping in second language acquisition. In addition she has authored pedagogical materials for second language acquisition.