Intergenerational Trauma in Refugee Communities

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’.

• 'Introduction. Introduction. 1. Returning to the Roots: Transgenerational Trauma, Diaspora Community, and the Armenian Pilgrimage to the Lost Homeland. 2. Refugee Literary Space: Silences, Intergenerational Trauma, and Resilience. 3. Intergenerational Transmission of Traumatic Experiences among Palestinian Refugees. 4. Holocaust Survivors, Siberians, Refugees, Veterans - Memory and Choice of Jewish Returnees from the USSR to Poland (1945-2024). 5. In the Aftermath of Silence: An Intergenerational Burden of Recognition in Postgeneration Holodomor Survivor Literature. 6. “La Sobrevivencia y la Resistencia” (Survival and Resilience): The Experience of Intergenerational Trauma Transmission in Nicaraguan American Families. 7. Intergenerational Trauma among Refugees in Africa and the African Diaspora. 8. Marginalization as Traumatization: Developmentally Based Trauma Framework for Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma in Somali Refugees. 9. The Long Shadow of the Eritrean Independence Struggle: Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma across Diaspora Generations. 10. The Elephant in the Room: Experiences of Intergenerational Trauma in Second-Generation Bosnian Americans. 11. German Perversions of Mental Health Care: Male Afghan Refugees, Deportation, and Carceral Systems during NATO’s War in Afghanistan. 12. History, Trauma, and Identity: The Legacy of the Korean War for Korean Americans. 13. The Psychological Well-Being of Children in North Korean Defector Families: The Impact of Intergenerational Trauma. 14. Learning Refugee Trauma and Politics through Community Arts Organizing. 15. The Unheard and Unseen Perspectives on Intergenerational Trauma.