Imagined identities: Preimmigrants' narratives on language and identity

Abstract

This article reports on a study which investigated the language- and identity-related, predeparture concerns and expectations of prospective immigrants. Narrative interviews were conducted with 15 Afrikaans-speaking South Africans who planned to emigrate to New Zealand within months of their participation in the study. The participants' stories were told and interpreted within the exploratory space created by the intersection of three narrative dimensions (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000); that is, the personal and social experiences of participants moving backwards and forwards in time and physical space. From our socially-situated content analysis of the experiences articulated in their narratives we identified a number of thematic threads which we found to be salient. We chose five of these through which to channel our presentation of the findings: linguistic, cultural and national roots; the process of change; imagined identity changes; imagined losses and longing; emotional responses to anticipated changes. Further interpretative analysis of the findings produced five interrelated axes on which the participants, through their stories, position themselves. By examining participants' imagined experiences, our aim is to broaden the scope of research on language, identity and immigration. It allows us to make connections between life before and after migration, and thus to focus on the “journey” (Brah, 1996).