ABSTRACT
Despite increased academic interest in recent decades in the multiple, interstitial subjectivities produced in and by transnational displacement, there is still much anxiety surrounding its key terms and concepts. The complexity of the arguments surrounding the terms used in the discussion of displacement is demonstrated by Amy K. Kaminsky's criticism of what she refers to as the 'evacuation of meaning of the term "exile"'. Departure from home, and the homeland, plays out differently for women due to the discontinuation of the association of women with the home. The separation from home and its associated roles, and the immersion in an unfamiliar environment where an individual is marked by their difference from the norm, inevitably leads to both reflect ion upon, and examination of one's sense of self. Place is central to the negotiation of identity, and thus of particular significance for exiles.
