From Global Mobility to Global Expulsion: Reimagining Exclusion, Displacement and Belonging in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West

Globalization is frequently associated with mobility, connectivity and the dissolution of geographical boundaries; yet its benefits and freedoms remain unevenly distributed. This paper examines how contemporary globalization produces new configurations of exclusion through displacement, unequal mobility, economic insecurity, border regimes and cultural dislocation, with particular reference to Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West. The study employs Saskia Sassen’s concept of “expulsions” and Zygmunt Bauman’s theorization of globalization and unequal mobility as complementary theoretical perspectives for interpreting the novel. Sassen’s framework enables the analysis of how individuals and communities are progressively pushed beyond economic, social and political spaces of participation, while Bauman’s distinction between privileged mobility and involuntary movement illuminates the unequal human consequences of a supposedly borderless world. Through the experiences of Nadia and Saeed, the paper investigates how migration transforms geographical movement into a complex negotiation of identity, security, belonging and cultural memory. The magical doors in the novel are interpreted not merely as a narrative device but as a metaphor for the contradictory possibilities of globalization: they facilitate unprecedented movement while simultaneously exposing migrants to surveillance, hostility, exclusion and precarious belonging. The study further considers how borders persist despite technological and economic interconnectedness and how displaced subjects negotiate new social spaces without entirely recovering their previous sense of home. By bringing Sassen and Bauman into dialogue with Hamid’s literary representation, the paper argues that Exit West challenges celebratory accounts of globalization and reveals mobility itself as an unequally distributed resource. The study thus contributes to understanding literary representations of globalization as critical examinations of emerging structures of exclusion.

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