Issues in Applied Linguistics

This article analyzes data collected as part of an ethnography of three families of Israeli emissaries (shlichim) in order to explore the relationship between the individual, the schedules to which s/he adheres, and her/his affiliation with a particular collective. The paper examines the relationship between time, community, and self through a discourse analytic lens that draws on approaches to the study of cultural identity which look to tension as definitive of groups and their members. It is suggested that an examination of the tensions between the individual and the collective provides a fruitful means by which to investigate the meaning of time for society and self.