ESSENTIALIST BORDERLANDS, MONOLITHIC OTHERING AND MIGRATED LOCALES: ANALYSIS OF H. M. NAQVI’S HOME BOY

Abstract

Borders in the globalized world are the converging points of not only the globalizing forces of security, trade and migration but also the related conflicting identities, ideologies and civilizations. Just like its spatial connotations that relate to territorial zones, borderlands can also mean phenomena that create psychological borders by means by the enactment of social policy, and ideology. In that case, people of either sides of the border may struggle with the question of identity. Using the psychological borders-related theoretical underpinnings, provided by Gloria Anzaldua, the current study attempts to trace the contribution of border-crossing and globalization in the treatment of such people by the host societies, as depicted in H. M. Naqvi’s novel Home Boy. Since physical as well as psychological borders are created for the security of a nation, the outsiders are often thought of as a threat to the security of that very nation. The study finds that the host societies question the identities and cultures of these people in the name of the so-called human welfare and security.