The role of collective identifications in family processes of post-trauma reconstruction: An exploratory study with Kurdish refugee families and their diasporic community

Ruth Kevers, Peter Rober and Lucia De Haene
Additional contact information
Ruth Kevers: KU Leuven, Belgium
Peter Rober: KU Leuven, Belgium
Lucia De Haene: KU Leuven, Belgium

Kurdish Studies, 2017, vol. 5, issue 2, 107-133

Abstract: While collective identifications of diasporic Kurds have attracted considerable scholarly interest, their possible role in familial processes of post-trauma reconstruction has hardly been studied. The aim of this article is therefore to develop an explorative understanding of the deployment and meaning of collective identifications in intimate family contexts by examining the interconnectedness between the transmission of cultural and political belonging and post-trauma meaning-making and coping in Kurdish refugee families. After contextualising diasporic Kurds’ collective identifications through an ethnographic depiction of the Kurdish diasporic community in Belgium, this article reports on findings from a small-scale, exploratory study with five Kurdish refugee families in Belgium. Thematic analysis of family and parent interviews indicates how cultural and political identifications may operate as sources of (1) dealing with cultural bereavement and loss; (2) commemorating trauma; and (3) reversing versus reiterating trauma. Overall, this study’s findings support an explorative understanding of collective identifications as meaningful resources in families’ post-trauma reconstruction.

Keywords: Family; collective identity; Kurds; trauma; diaspora (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://kurdishstudies.net/journal/index.php/ks/article/view/440/433 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mig:ksjrnl:v:5:y:2017:i:2:p:107-133

Access Statistics for this article

Kurdish Studies is currently edited by Cruz García Lirios

More articles in Kurdish Studies from Society of history and cultural studies, Hong Kong
Bibliographic data for series maintained by KSJ ().