Forced Migration and Social Trauma addresses the topic of social trauma and migration by bringing together a broad range of interdisciplinary and international contributors, comprising refugee care practitioners, trauma researchers, sociologists and specialists in public policy from all along the Balkan refugee route into Europe. It gives the essence of a moderated dialogue between psychologists and psychoanalysts, sociologists, public policy and refugee care experts.

Migration is connected to social trauma and cannot be handled without being aware of this context. The way refugees are treated in the transit or target countries is often determined by the socio-traumatic history of these countries. Social trauma can be collectively committed and perpetuated, leaving transgenerational traces in posttraumatic and attachment disorders, uprootedness and loss of social and political confidence. Media and cultural artefacts like press, TV and the internet influence collective coping as well as traumatic perpetuation. This book shows how xenophobia in the refugee receiving or transit countries can be caused by projection rather than by experience, and that the way refugees are received and regarded in a country may be connected to the country's cultural-traumatic history. Refugees, who are often individually and collectively traumatised, experience multiple re-enactments; however, such retraumatisations between refugees and receiving populations or institutions often remain unaddressed. The split between welcoming and hostile attitudes sometimes leads to unconscious institutional defences, such as lack of cooperation between medical, psychotherapeutic, humanitarian and legal institutions.

An interdisciplinary and international exchange on migration and social trauma is necessary on all levels - this book gives convincing examples of this dialogue. Forced Migration and Social Trauma will be of great interest to all who are involved in the modern issues of refuge and migration.

About the Author

Andreas Hamburger is a professor of psychology at the International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin, Germany, a psychoanalyst (DPG), training analyst and supervisor (DGPT).

Camellia Hancheva is a senior assistant professor in developmental psychology, a psychotherapist and supervisor at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Bulgaria.

Saime Ozcurumez, PhD, is Director of the Human Mobility Processes and Interactions (HMPI) Research Lab and an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey.

Carmen Scher, MA, is Head of the International Office at the International Psychoanalytic University in Berlin, Germany.

Biljana Stankovic, PhD, is an assistant professor of psychology within the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Serbia.

Slavica Tutnjevic, PhD, is an assistant professor of developmental psychology within the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Reviews

"Psychoanalytically-informed literature on immigration has largely sidestepped the anguish of exiles and refugees. This book by Hamburger et al. rectifies this inattention and does so in a comprehensive and far-reaching manner. It addresses the suffering of adult and child refugees, host societies' ambivalence towards the newcomers, the containing and inciting role of media, and the ameliorative measures, both on an individual and societal basis, that aim to heal the trauma of geographical dislocation. Impressively, the book also elucidates the problems faced by those in caregiving roles vis-a-vis refugees and suggests ways to handle them. This is a serious, sophisticated and psycho-politically significant work in our times of radical demographic change and global turmoil."-Salman Akhtar, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Thomas Jefferson University, Training and Supervising Analyst, Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, USA

Book Information
ISBN 9781138361812
Author Andreas Hamburger
Format Paperback
Page Count 270
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 442g