CONTACT US: Contact info
|
Citation |
Atallah DG. Transcult. Psychiatry 2017; 54(3): 357-383. |
|
Affiliation |
Harvard Medical School. |
|
Copyright |
(Copyright © 2017, McGill University, Publisher SAGE Publishing) |
|
DOI |
|
PMID |
28517968 |
|
Abstract |
The purpose of this study was to explore resilience processes in Palestinian refugee families living under Israeli occupation for multiple generations. Qualitative methods, critical postcolonial theories, and community-based research approaches were used to examine intergenerational protective practices and to contribute to reconceptualizations of resilience from indigenous perspectives. First, the researcher developed a collaborative partnership with a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in a UN refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Then, with the support of this NGO, semistructured group and individual interviews were completed with a total of 30 participants ( N = 30) ranging in age from 18 to 90 years old coming from 5 distinct extended family networks. Using grounded theory situational analysis, the findings were organized in a representation entitled Palestinian Refugee Family Trees of Resilience (PRFTR). These findings explain resilience in terms of three interrelated themes: (a) Muqawama/resistance to military siege and occupation; (b) Awda/return to cultural roots despite historical and ongoing settler colonialism; and (c) Sumoud/perseverance through daily adversities and accumulation of trauma. The study findings shed light on how Palestinian families cultivate positive adaptation across generations and highlight how incorporating community-based perspectives on the historical trauma and violent social conditions of everyday life under occupation may be critical for promoting resilience. Language: en |
|
Keywords |
Palestinian refugees; community-based research; family resilience; historical trauma; qualitative methods; structural violence; transgenerational transmission |