Intergenerational Trauma in Refugee Communities

Introduction

Laura Kromják and Ajlina Karamehić-Muratović

1. Returning to the Roots: Transgenerational Trauma, Diaspora Community, and the Armenian Pilgrimage to the Lost Homeland

Konrad Siekierski

2. Refugee Literary Space: Silences, Intergenerational Trauma, and Resilience

Shahab Nadimi

3. Intergenerational Transmission of Traumatic Experiences among Palestinian Refugees

Fayez Mahamid and Dana Bdier

4. Holocaust Survivors, Siberians, Refugees, Veterans – Memory and Choice of Jewish Returnees from the USSR to Poland (1945–2024)

Lidia Zessin-Jurek

5. In the Aftermath of Silence: An Intergenerational Burden of Recognition in Postgeneration Holodomor Survivor Literature

Elise Westin

6. “La Sobrevivencia y La Resistencia” (Survival and Resilience): The Experience of Intergenerational Trauma Transmission in Nicaraguan American Families

Ricardo Phipps and Janethe Peña

7. Intergenerational Trauma among Refugees in Africa and the African Diaspora

Mario J. Azevedo and Tiffany D. Caesar

8. Marginalization as Traumatization: Developmentally Based Trauma Framework for Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma in Somali Refugees

Muna Saleh and Hyojin Im

9. The Long Shadow of the Eritrean Independence Struggle: Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma across Diaspora Generations

Nicole Hirt

10. The Elephant in the Room: Experiences of Intergenerational Trauma in Second-Generation Bosnian Americans

Ajlina Karamehić-Muratović and Laura Kromják

11. German Perversions of Mental Health Care: Male Afghan Refugees, Deportation, and Carceral Systems during NATO’s War in Afghanistan

Paniz Musawi Natanzi

12. History, Trauma, and Identity: The Legacy of the Korean War for Korean Americans 

Ramsay Liem

13. The Psychological Well-Being of Children in North Korean Defector Families: The Impact of Intergenerational Trauma

Sang Hui Chu

14. Learning Refugee Trauma and Politics through Community Arts Organizing

Phi Hong Su

15. The Unheard and Unseen Perspectives on Intergenerational Trauma 

Nora Parr, Wendy Sims-Schouten, Jenny Phillimore, Heather Flowe, Sarah Rockowitz, Laura Stevens, Tamirace Fakhoury, and Rana Dajani

Biography

Laura Kromják is Assistant Professor in the Department of Global and Development Studies, Institute of Political and International Studies, ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences in Budapest, Hungary. She teaches migration, international development and European Union related subjects, and her regional focus is the Western Balkans. Her interests include trauma research, memory politics and reconciliation in post-conflict societies. Her work also focuses on post-war family dynamics, especially the challenges facing elderly population both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its diaspora.

Ajlina Karamehić-Muratović is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, where she teaches health-related and research methodology courses. Her interdisciplinary research is health- and community-focused, with an emphasis on issues facing refugees and immigrants. Her research interests also include mental health beliefs and stigma among Arab youth in the Middle East.

“This book is a profound journey into the dark legacy of intergenerational trauma in refugee communities. It sheds light on the heavy shadows we’ve inherited – fears, tensions, and the oppressive silences of our ancestors. It compels us to lift the veil on the hidden, break the silence and cleanse the ‘burden of survival’ from the walls that held our forebears captive, who fought to voice the unspeakable truth.”

-Mandana Hendessi, OBE, Author of ‘The Kurds: The Struggle for National Identity and Statehood’, Social Development and Social Movements Specialist, London, United Kingdom.

 

“Today, when there appears to be little space for reflection in the face of ongoing wars, genocides, forced migrations, and gross injustices, Intergenerational Trauma in Refugee Communities affirms the conviction that the compelling point of the trauma transmission process is when speakers' emotional and ontological truths are integrated into the stories of successive generations, respecting the noble resilience of forbearers and their progeny.”

-Keith Doubt, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Wittenberg University, OH, U.S.A.

 

“Kromják and Karamehić-Muratović have produced a foundational study for understanding the way trauma impacts intergenerational social and political norms. This volume will certainly become a standard reference text not only within refugee studies but across the social sciences in short order.”

-Dr. Jasmin Mujanović, Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Newlines Institute, Washington D.C., U.S.A.

 

“This collection, notable for its global and cross-disciplinary scholarship and clear, accessible language, provides critical insights into the far-reaching impacts of twentieth-century imperial genocides and ongoing state violence. It calls for hospitality while exploring the entanglement of displaced ‘refugees’ and forced migration with political violence and the quest for justice.”

-Fazil Moradi, Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study, South Africa, Author of ‘Being Human: Political Modernity and Hospitality in Kurdistan-Iraq’.