ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the relationship of the individual self with a particular space. It mobilises the concept of liminal identities in relation to time and space in terms of the Bakhtinian chronotope, as the representational configuration of time, space, and identity that is activated in social interaction. The book investigates the written and oral narratives produced by a group of senior migrants who, having lived in France for a long time, are attending a class of Lengua Castellana in which they learn to read and write in Spanish, their original language. It looks at the important issue of the national provision for the mental health sufferers. The book examines the relationship between language and identity at the institutional level. It explores the effects of nostalgia as ‘a longing for a place but it is actually a yearning for a different time’.
