Open AccessTrauma, Development, Dispossession: "Telling the Story" of Refugees and Suffering in Somali Ethiopia
Author(s) -
Christina Zarowsky
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
refuge
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1920-7336
pISSN - 0229-5113
DOI - 10.25071/1920-7336.21937
Subject(s) - somali , refugee , distress , injustice , psychology , poverty , disengagement theory , political science , sociology , criminology , social psychology , medicine , clinical psychology , gerontology , philosophy , linguistics , law
Ethnographic research about "the refugeeexperience" of Somalis in easternEthiopia is discussed, focusing on interactionsof returnees with relief and developmentagencies, the story of onecommunity, and a discussion of someSomali emotion words. Exclusivelypsychological or psychiatric approachesto working with refugees may not provide a satisfactorypoint of access to displacement-related distress amongSomali refugees. Highly individualizingmodels of suffering, focusing onpsychological distress, are of only limitedsalience to populations of Somalirefugees and returnees in the Horn ofAfrica-politics, poverty, and perceivedcollective injustice must be addressedin conjunction with anyexploration of emotional distress andpersonal suffering.