Forward to the Special Issue Fragile Selves

Abstract

In March 2022, I gave a keynote address at the PhD Symposium on Fragile Selves at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. The focus of my talk was to examine the extraordinary efforts of Circassian forced migrants to maintain their culture, their language, and their traditions, during their involuntary migration to new lands. Although I did not use the term ‘fragile’, what I was examining was indeed a delicate balancing act to identify and maintain what many regarded as special and evocative of their native land and culture.