An analysis of war trauma and refugee distress among Bosnian Muslim women : exploring social and personal healing in the aftermath

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorFoster, Donen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMurphy, Teri Len_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-02-11T14:17:54Z
dc.date.available2015-02-11T14:17:54Z
dc.date.issued2011en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis study is a narrative examination of the healing process in the aftermath of war trauma for nineteen Bosnian Muslim refugee women. Epistemologically informed by Feminist Standpoint Theory, a mixed methods approach of Grounded Theory, Narrative Analysis and Relational Voice Theory was used to show how recovery from multiple war trauma/violence has occurred only partially. By synthesizing theories of place identity, gender roles, and meaning making systems, the difficulties women face to integrate war and refugee experiences into social understanding is examined. Individuals in the study identified themselves as Bosnian women – culturally, nationally, ethnically, and religiously. Not only did war threaten those identifications, in some aspects, it fundamentally altered them. This paper argues that when the women were alienated from place attachments, their history and narratives were disrupted. They were dislocated from a literal space called “home” and they lost a sense of existential belonging and identity. Second, findings explicate how war and forced removals impacted familial and communal relationships. Women experienced relational losses through death and separation; they also lost the anchoring of their social identities. In exile, role expectations and demands radically shifted. Finally, narrative analysis demonstrates how traumatic events created an internal disorientation. Centralizing ethno-religious beliefs were shattered, leaving refugee women to face a crisis of meaning. Taken together, these findings elucidate how the radical discordance between pre/post-war place identification, role continuity, and cultural/religious belief systems is problematic and has made it difficult for Bosnian Muslim refugee women in the study to heal or to fully recover in the aftermath of war.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMurphy, T. L. (2011). <i>An analysis of war trauma and refugee distress among Bosnian Muslim women : exploring social and personal healing in the aftermath</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Psychology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12460en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMurphy, Teri L. <i>"An analysis of war trauma and refugee distress among Bosnian Muslim women : exploring social and personal healing in the aftermath."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Psychology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12460en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMurphy, T. 2011. An analysis of war trauma and refugee distress among Bosnian Muslim women : exploring social and personal healing in the aftermath. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Murphy, Teri L AB - This study is a narrative examination of the healing process in the aftermath of war trauma for nineteen Bosnian Muslim refugee women. Epistemologically informed by Feminist Standpoint Theory, a mixed methods approach of Grounded Theory, Narrative Analysis and Relational Voice Theory was used to show how recovery from multiple war trauma/violence has occurred only partially. By synthesizing theories of place identity, gender roles, and meaning making systems, the difficulties women face to integrate war and refugee experiences into social understanding is examined. Individuals in the study identified themselves as Bosnian women – culturally, nationally, ethnically, and religiously. Not only did war threaten those identifications, in some aspects, it fundamentally altered them. This paper argues that when the women were alienated from place attachments, their history and narratives were disrupted. They were dislocated from a literal space called “home” and they lost a sense of existential belonging and identity. Second, findings explicate how war and forced removals impacted familial and communal relationships. Women experienced relational losses through death and separation; they also lost the anchoring of their social identities. In exile, role expectations and demands radically shifted. Finally, narrative analysis demonstrates how traumatic events created an internal disorientation. Centralizing ethno-religious beliefs were shattered, leaving refugee women to face a crisis of meaning. Taken together, these findings elucidate how the radical discordance between pre/post-war place identification, role continuity, and cultural/religious belief systems is problematic and has made it difficult for Bosnian Muslim refugee women in the study to heal or to fully recover in the aftermath of war. DA - 2011 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2011 T1 - An analysis of war trauma and refugee distress among Bosnian Muslim women : exploring social and personal healing in the aftermath TI - An analysis of war trauma and refugee distress among Bosnian Muslim women : exploring social and personal healing in the aftermath UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12460 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/12460
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMurphy TL. An analysis of war trauma and refugee distress among Bosnian Muslim women : exploring social and personal healing in the aftermath. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Psychology, 2011 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12460en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Psychologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherPsychologyen_ZA
dc.titleAn analysis of war trauma and refugee distress among Bosnian Muslim women : exploring social and personal healing in the aftermathen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_hum_2011_55659_murphy_t.pdf
Size:
1.69 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
PhD / Doctoral