Comparing the Exile and Return Memories of Namibian Women in the Namibian Autobiographies Comparando los recuerdos del exilio y el regreso de las mujeres Namibias en autobiografías Namibias seleccionadas Kaarina Emvula (0000-0001-7292-9095) 1 Haileleul Zeleke Woldemariam (Make sure the ORCID is included) 2 Contributor roles: Kaarina Emvula: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Writing- Original draft preparation, Investigation. Haileleul Zeleke Woldemariam: Supervision, Validation, Writing- Reviewing and Editing Abstract This article compares the expressions used to recount the exile and return experiences and memories of women who lived in exile with those who were born and/or raised in exile using a cognitive stylistics lens following image schema theory predominantly. The linguistic expressions studied were obtained from four Namibian autobiographies namely Tshiwa Troudie Amulungu’s Taming my elephant, Fousy Shinana-Kambombo’s Southwest Africa to Namibia: My personal struggle, Valentina Nghiwete’s Valentina: The exile child and Lucia Engombe’s Child No. 95: My German African Odyssey. The autobiographies were examined by comparing how basic image schema such as SOURCE-PATH-GOAL, BALANCE, CONTAINER, and LINK can be used as a cognitive tool in conceptualising exile experience, understand abstract linguistic extensions and meaning as well as conceptualise the impact of exile experiences on second generation refugees in a post-independent Namibia. It was concluded that the majority of linguistic phrases used in autobiographical narrations were found to be based on the four-image schema either at the concrete or at the abstract levels. The study also concluded that all the autobiographies studied have used figurative languages based on the various image schemas studied. Keywords: balance schema, cognitive stylistics, container schema, image schema, link schema, source-path-goal schema 1 Part-time marker-tutor, and Master of English and Applied Linguistics graduate, NUST, Namibia, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7292-9095, Email: kemvula@nust.na 2 Associate Professor, Department of Communication, FoHS, NUST, Namibia, Email: hwoldemariam@nust.na