Employing the Tools of Growth: The Example of Displaced Populations

Abstract

Our conversations with individuals directly affected by the long-term effects of ethnopolitical warfare and the counselors and aid workerss supporting these individuals revealed to us that many individuals, and counselors in particular, believe that posttraumatic growth is a relevant and observable phenomenon in these situations. In this chapter, we will outline the potential of rigorous research into posttraumatic growth to contribute to meaningful interventions that aid the recovery of individuals exposed to repeated hardships of conflict and displacement.

Say this city has ten million souls,

Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:

Yet there’s no place for us, my dear, yet there’s no place for us.

Once we had a country and we thought it fair,

Look in the atlas and you’ll find it there:

We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.

In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,

Every spring it blossoms anew;

Old passports can’t do that, my dear, old passports can’t do that.

The consul banged the table and said:

‘If you’ve got no passport, you’re officially dead’’;

But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.

(W.H. Auden, “Refugee Blues”).

It often appears as if [researchers] base their judgments on observations and ad hoc interviews instead of having profound and in-depth knowledge of the refugees’ views on things. Authors frequently claim with great confidence that they know what refugees need, what problems they have, and that refugees have the same priorities. Often the impression is that refugees are not seen as subjects and actors, with their history, aspirations, resources, capacities, and views. Who has asked the refugees?

(Hoeing, 2004, p. 3).