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An Uncertain Safety pp 3–22Cite as

Changing Context and Changing Lenses: A Contextual Approach to Understanding the Impact of Violence on Refugees

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Abstract

Refugees can face a range of social, political, cultural, existential and spiritual challenges that extend beyond the impact of discrete events or direct psychological and physical harms. Such suffering can only be understood relative to and dependent upon the context in which it is experienced. Context is a major, not a tangential, component of conceptualising assistance to refugees. Hans Keilson’s approach of sequential traumatisation shows that interventions to assist refugees need to extend to understanding the role of the context over time and that past experiences are always reinterpreted through the prism of the present. Different community and individual processes (such as testimony and social activism) can create new contextual meaning for refugees. Changing the context is a psychological intervention. There is a responsibility on mental health workers and practitioners to find ways to change and influence the socio-political context.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The definition of refugee is a complex issue. This is discussed elsewhere in this book. Broadly I would adopt a definition of the term as described by AOAV, i.e. refugee is best used as a term by those who self-describe as refugees which may include “those who are still seeking asylum. However, where it is referred to in the context of laws and policy, the term identifies those who have been granted asylum” ([2], p. 2).

  2. 2.

    This chapter draws on two works [3, 4]. Parts of the text have been extracted from these works and in terms of [4] reproduced with permission of the Berghof Institute.

  3. 3.

    The term is allegedly onomatopoeic, South Africans claim to hear “kwere, kwere” when immigrants open their mouths. The term is derogatory.

  4. 4.

    I would like to thank Dr. David Becker for introducing me to the work of Keilson and explaining its significance. What I present here is built on his initial insights, and I am deeply grateful.

  5. 5.

    A period of political violence, orchestrated by Mugabe’s army against political opponents, between 1982 and 1987 that is still silenced in contemporary Zimbabwe [47].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. John Hume and Thomas P. O’Neill Chair, International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE), Ulster University, Belfast, Northern Ireland

    Brandon Hamber

  2. African Centre for Migration and Society, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Brandon Hamber

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  1. Brandon Hamber
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Correspondence to Brandon Hamber .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. World Psychiatric Association Scientific Section, Psychological Aspects of Persecution and Torture, Geneva, Switzerland

    Thomas Wenzel

  2. PsyQ/Parnassia Group, Rosmalen/Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Boris Drožđek

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Hamber, B. (2019). Changing Context and Changing Lenses: A Contextual Approach to Understanding the Impact of Violence on Refugees. In: Wenzel, T., Drožđek, B. (eds) An Uncertain Safety. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72914-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72914-5_1

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