Fractured Bonds, Dithering Identities: Afghan-Swiss Diaspora Conflict Narratives

Abstract

This article documents how decades of conflict in Afghanistan have uprooted local families and how multiple layers of different-yet-similar war experiences are interpreted by, and continuously have impact on, Afghans in diasporic contexts. It draws on biographic narratives of Afghan refugees who arrived in Switzerland between 1978 and 2015, spotlighting three persons and their particular entanglements with war and war stories. The article reflects on the reasons for their departure, including the fault lines or the active involvement in conflict that triggered their journey to Europe. The narratives shed light on how ordinary Afghans understand the concept of jihad, what they regard as reasons worth fighting for, how they experience ethnoscape- and foreign country-related dimensions of Afghan conflicts, and how unspoken conflict memories affect the younger diaspora generation.