Therefore, I interpreted and developed further Ivanic’s “possibilities of selfhood” as my third space, although she did not describe this site as the third space.
Wang (2004) questioned, “How can I speak about the unspeakable third space especially in a language not my own?” (p. 146). My way of thinking is circular, so I cannot simply follow a traditional, linear Western academic style, while I am being displaced from my own culture as I experience “transnational living” (Gough, 2004). Gough addressed the provocative notion of estrangement and removing ourselves from our self in the following:
This study concerns the experiences of four Japanese women students in Canada as they try to negotiate Canadian sociocultural values and learn English. The struggles that my participants and I experienced often dealt with issues of estrangement from hegemonic Canadian values, and it is my hope that my book inspires compassion for difference and dialogue between people from different cultural backgrounds.