Andrea Knezović “Even if one is not an actual immigrant or expatriate, it is still possible to think as one, to imagine and investigate in spite of barriers, and always to move away from the centralizing authorities towards the margins, where you see things that are usually lost on minds that have never traveled beyond the conventional and the comfortable.” Edward W. Said, in Ranjan Ghosh (ed.), Edward Said and the Literary, Social, and Political World (2009) When it comes to matters of existentialism, survival is one of the greatest challenges which each individual encounters in their lifetime. It is the primal urge which coordinates our actions and imagination, regardless of social, economic or political backgrounds. Throughout our life journeys we establish patterns which determine our individuality, our modes of action, social positions and the conditions in which we exist. Identity plays a crucial role in shaping how and with whom we will assimilate ourselves. Existentialism in this case can be translated to any life that endures certain crises be they economic, political or personal. In the case of immigrants, their transitional position places them within a threshold state. It situates them in ambiguous circumstances wherein they experience discrepancies between their previous identities and those which they will adopt in their new geographical surroundings. On the Threshold is a project which describes liminal identity and its imaginative perspectives through the narrative of immigrants’ personal stories. Andrea Knezović
Special Issue
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