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IDMC Case Study – Protracted disaster displacement in Japan

Case Study Series Protracted Disaster Displacement This Japan case study is the first of a global series addressing a significant gap in awareness and knowledge about people caught in protracted and chronic displacement situations in the context of disasters and environmental change. Recovery Postponed The long-term plight of people displaced by the 2011 Great East … Continue reading IDMC Case Study – Protracted disaster displacement in Japan

Emergency Humanitarian Appeals and Gaza’s On-going Destruction: The Case of Failed Accountability and Sustainability

The PA continues to pose long lists of areas and needs without strategic thinking and analytical approaches that represent a framework to de-colonize Palestinian lands by investing in land, development and systems to challenge the economic constraints of the Israeli occupation. Some key questions for stakeholders moving forward, include whether international aid will continue to … Continue reading Emergency Humanitarian Appeals and Gaza’s On-going Destruction: The Case of Failed Accountability and Sustainability

Mental and physical health consequences of repatriation for Vietnamese returnees: A natural experiment approach.

 While there is much speculation about the potential consequences of repatriation, systematic comparisons of health outcomes employing standard measures and appropriate population-based samples of migration returnees and non-returnees are virtually non-existent. This study addresses this significant gap in the empirical literature by employing standard measures of mental and physical health outcomes for comparable samples of … Continue reading Mental and physical health consequences of repatriation for Vietnamese returnees: A natural experiment approach.

Posttraumatic stress disorder and the use of general health services in postwar Kosovo.

Studies conducted in high-income countries have demonstrated that posttraumatic stress symptoms are positively correlated with increased use of general health services; however, comparative data are lacking in postwar settings. This survey was conducted in Kosovo after the end of the conflict; 996 people, age 16 or older, were interviewed. Older age, lower education level, worse … Continue reading Posttraumatic stress disorder and the use of general health services in postwar Kosovo.

Health status of returnees to Kosovo: Do living conditions during asylum make a difference?

Objective From August 1999 to July 2001, asylum seekers who had come to Switzerland from Kosovo were repatriated. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between living conditions during asylum in Switzerland and health status among returnees.   Study design Cross-sectional survey of 319 ethnic Albanian families in Kosovo, selected from a list of … Continue reading Health status of returnees to Kosovo: Do living conditions during asylum make a difference?

Contradictory notions of the state: The case of returned refugees in Guatemala.

 Stølen, K.A. (2005). Contradictory notions of the state: The case of returned refugees in Guatemala. In C. Krohn-Hansen & K. Nustad (Eds.), State formations, anthropological perspectives. London/Ann Arbor: Pluto Press.

What happens to traditional knowledge and use of natural resources when people migrate?

The study investigates traditional knowledge of forest plants in a community (La Quetzal) inhabited by people who returned to Guatemala at the end of the civil war, after 10-12 years in exile in Southern Mexico, and now are in the process of constructing a new community in the Lacandon jungle in the Petén, Guatemala. We … Continue reading What happens to traditional knowledge and use of natural resources when people migrate?

Guatemalans in the aftermath of violence.

 In the early 1980s the Guatemalan army unleashed a scorched-earth campaign against civilians suspected of supporting antigovernment guerrilla forces. Faced with violent repression, indigenous people found various ways to survive. Some joined the guerrilla ranks, some fell in with so-called self-defense patrols controlled by the army, while others crossed the Mexican border to seek safety. … Continue reading Guatemalans in the aftermath of violence.

Place and identity among Guatemalan returnees.

 The idea of a natural link between people and places has been dominant in the politics of refugee repatriation. Repatriation is conceived as the natural and logical solution to refugee displacement, a restoration of order in the relationship between people, culture and place. The case of the Guatemalan returnees discussed in this article reveals that … Continue reading Place and identity among Guatemalan returnees.

Collective trauma in northern Sri Lanka: A qualitative psychosocial-ecological study.

Background Complex situations that follow war and natural disasters have a psychosocial impact on not only the individual but also on the family, community and society. Just as the mental health effects on the individual psyche can result in non pathological distress as well as a variety of psychiatric disorders; massive and widespread trauma and … Continue reading Collective trauma in northern Sri Lanka: A qualitative psychosocial-ecological study.