Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed

Joumana Aljasem; Abdul Serdar Öztürk

Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed

Abstract

Postcolonial literary scholarship has traditionally examined identity formation through the frameworks of migration, exile, and diasporic hybridity. While these approaches have illuminated the effects of geographical displacement, they have given comparatively little attention to the emotional dislocations produced by fractured kinship bonds and disrupted familial relationships. This article addresses this gap through a close reading of And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. It argues that the novel reconfigures displacement as a relational phenomenon, in which identity fragmentation arises not primarily from spatial migration but from the rupture of intimate familial ties. Drawing on the work of Stuart Hall and Erik Erikson, the study introduces the concept of relational displacement to describe how early separation and disrupted kinship structures destabilize subjectivity and produce forms of affective exile. Through an analysis of the contrasting trajectories of Abdullah and Pari, the article demonstrates how memory, absence, and narrative fragmentation shape their evolving senses of self. Ultimately, the novel suggests that the most enduring forms of displacement emerge not from the loss of place but from the severing of the emotional bonds through which identity and belonging are sustained.

Keywords

References

Baumeister, R. F. (1997). Identity, self-concept, and self-esteem: The self lost and found. In R. Hogan, J. A. Johnson, & S. R. Briggs (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology (pp. 681–710). Academic Press.
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. Routledge.
Das, A., & Sen, C. (2024). The crisis of cultural identity: Reading Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed. International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 3(2), 18–22.
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. W. W. Norton & Company.
Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth. Grove Press.
Hall, S. (1990). Cultural identity and diaspora. In J. Rutherford (Ed.), Identity: Community, culture, difference (pp. 222–237). Lawrence & Wishart.
Hosseini, K. (2013). And the Mountains Echoed. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Kalaivani, G. (2023). Quest of social identity and cultural hybridity in Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed. Humanities and Social Science Studies, 12(2), 123–130.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Joumana Aljasem ^*
0009-0006-9001-8125
Türkiye

Abdul Serdar Öztürk
0000-0002-7780-7107
Türkiye

Early Pub Date

June 10, 2026

Publication Date

-

Submission Date

March 13, 2026

Acceptance Date

May 13, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Number: Advanced Online Publication

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA45WX62NB

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Aljasem, J., & Öztürk, A. S. (2026). Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature, Advanced Online Publication. https://izlik.org/JA45WX62NB

AMA

1.Aljasem J, Öztürk AS. Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed. EJELL. 2026;(Advanced Online Publication). https://izlik.org/JA45WX62NB

Chicago

Aljasem, Joumana, and Abdul Serdar Öztürk. 2026. “Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed”. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature, no. Advanced Online Publication. https://izlik.org/JA45WX62NB.

EndNote

Aljasem J, Öztürk AS (June 1, 2026) Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature Advanced Online Publication

IEEE

[1]J. Aljasem and A. S. Öztürk, “Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed”, EJELL, no. Advanced Online Publication, June 2026, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA45WX62NB

ISNAD

Aljasem, Joumana - Öztürk, Abdul Serdar. “Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed”. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature. Advanced Online Publication (June 1, 2026). https://izlik.org/JA45WX62NB.

JAMA

1.Aljasem J, Öztürk AS. Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed. EJELL. 2026. Available at https://izlik.org/JA45WX62NB.

MLA

Aljasem, Joumana, and Abdul Serdar Öztürk. “Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed”. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature, no. Advanced Online Publication, June 2026, https://izlik.org/JA45WX62NB.

Vancouver

1.Joumana Aljasem, Abdul Serdar Öztürk. Emotional Displacement and the Relational Production of Identity in And the Mountains Echoed. EJELL [Internet]. 2026 Jun. 1;(Advanced Online Publication). Available from: https://izlik.org/JA45WX62NB