Long-Distance Nationalism: A New Road to Refugees’ Identity Formation in When the Moon is Low and Hinterland

Abstract

My article discusses long-distance nationalism which provides numerous Afghan refugees with the chance to bridge the territorial gap between their home and host countries with an aim to develop a re-configured national identity. Working through Nadia Hashmi’s novel When the Moon is Low and Caroline Brothers’ Hinterland, I problematise the national identity of the Afghan refugees. Refugees are people who have left their homeland in the hope of finding protection; however, not only are they marginalised but are also pigeon-holed through the creation of a stereotypical identity of a ‘refugee’ that is bound within national boundaries. This promotes their subjugation and intensifies a re-configured long-distance nationalism in the refugee characters in the novels. Incorporating Roger Zetter’s concept of labeling, Ellen Lammers’ theorisation of categorisation and the concept of long-distance nationalism as presented by Nina Glick Schiller and George Eugene Fouron, I theorise how longdistance nationalism forges a trans-border citizenship among the Afghan refugees as a reaction to their reductive categorisation. In doing so, my article serves as one way of addressing the complexities of the Afghan refugee crisis.