Representations of Family in Autobiographical Texts of Child Refugees

In: Shofar: a quarterly interdisciplinary journal of Jewish studies ; official journal of the Midwest and Western Jewish Studies Associations, Band 23, Heft 1, S. 121-132

Abstract

This study concentrates on the autobiographical texts of five less well-known refugees, all of whom came to Britain as children and four of whom came unaccompanied, with a focus on representations of the family in their texts. Using examples of common themes in autobiographical texts of former members of the Kindertransport, such as language acquisition and evacuation procedures, the author investigates representations of the changing relationship towards birth family and continental culture as well as foster family and British culture. She argues that the successful narration of a life story is not only a part of the positioning process between different family and cultural circles, but also a part of a successful acculturation. By reconstituting or constituting one's life story, one can accommodate the different voices of analysis and anecdote, theory and experience. The case is made for including the analysis of texts by former child refugees in less specific fields such as migration studies and autobiographical theory.