Forced Migration, Gender and Wellbeing

Reflecting on three decades of post-conflict recovery in the Balkans, this incisive book investigates the long-term effects of war displacement on women across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo.

Selma Porobić and Brad K. Blitz draw upon four different research streams produced by a large, cross-national, and multidisciplinary team of contributors to compare the experiences of different categories of war-uprooted and/or women forced migrants. Providing a gender-inclusive focus on psychosocial wellbeing, chapters consider the long-term impacts of complex trauma on internally displaced persons, returnees, and refugees throughout the whole cycle of displacement, return, and reintegration. Uncovering alarming risk and protective factors linked to protracted political and socioeconomic instability in the region, the book ultimately offers lessons for a wider post-war recovery framework that prioritises women’s agency, psychosocial health, and trans-generational recovery.

Featuring interdisciplinary, cross-country, and multi-methods research, this insightful book will prove an invaluable resource to students and scholars of psychology, sociology, migration, gender, and human rights law. Its critical assessment of durable solutions for displaced populations will also benefit practitioners focused on peace building, humanitarianism, and development.