ABSTRACT
Introducing our selves Since this book is about ‘embodiment’, we will begin by introducing our embodied selves to you, our reader. I (Jo Bownas) am a White1 woman and my body has always been short in stature. My voice speaks to my English heritage and my vaguely middle-class social location. I (Glenda Fredman) am a White woman. I was born in Africa, in a Jewish family; throughout my childhood my Irish grandparents lived next door, and I was cared for tenderly by a Ndebele woman. I have also lived and worked for nearly 40 years in London. Our bodies show our advancing age in their contours, lines and tone. The ways in which we stand and sit, how we use our voice, hands and face, and how and what we receive and experience in our bodies are shaped by our life and work in our different cultures. These are the bodies with which we have read and responded to the contributions of the authors of this book and with which we write. Our bodies and the experiences and identities inscribed upon them have shaped our reading and writing; just as we anticipate that you, our reader, will be inÀuenced in your reading of this book by your own embodiment.
