The Language of Belonging

The authors address one of the most significant aspects of social life in our times: that of cultural identities and identifications, and of the ways we construct them through our speech and the narrative of ourselves and others. They combine a theoretical re-assessment of how we understand, study, and analyze processes of identification with detailed case studies of the discourses of three-generation families living in split-border communities along the former " Iron Curtain," talking about themselves and other social groups, about their way of life and their experiences past and present.

ULRIKE HANNA MEINHOF is Professor of German and Cultural Studies at the University of Southampton, UK and a specialist in discourse analysis. She is co-ordinator of two EU Fifth Framework research projects, one on 'European border identities' (www.borderidentities.com) and another on 'Changing City Spaces' (www.citynexus.com) which deals with issues of cultural diversity and migration in seven capital cities in Europe. She is the author or editor of many books.

DARIUSZ GALASINSKI is Professor of Discourse and Cultural Studies in the University of Wolverhampton, UK and Visiting Professor at Warsaw School of Social Psychology, Poland. His other books include Cultural Studies and Discourse Analysis (with Chris Barker), The Language of Deception, and Men and the Language of Emotions.