It is important to address the multi-faceted nature of the trauma of displacement and the challenges of rebuilding life in a foreign culture if we are to gain insights into the processes involved in building culturally diverse

community

Walsh, Tony

English

MURAL - Maynooth University Research Archive Library

The Trauma of Cultural Displacement TONY WALSH It is important to address the multi-faceted nature of the trauma of dis-placement and the challenges of rebuilding life in a foreign culture if we are to gain insights into the processes involved in building culturally di-verse community. DISPLACEMENT Traumatic events call into question basic human relationships. They breach the attachments of family, friendship, love and community. They shatter the construction of the self that is formed and sustained in rela-tion to others. They undermine the belief systems that give meaning to human experience. They violate the victim's faith in a natural or divine order and cast the victim into a state of existential crisis. To become a refugee is to become dislocated, often separated vio-lently from home, loved ones, work and community, and from all that is familiar and predictable. Physical, cultural, psychological and emotional displacement is at the heart of the experience. Three distinct phases emerge as central elements of the trauma. Firstly, what is often perceived as the central axis of the experience, the actual physical uprooting, frequently takes place against a background of years of uncertainty, oppression, violenc;:e or persecution and economic depri-vation, which will have taken a profound physical and emotional tole. Then comes the actual violence of physical, psychological and cultural displacement. Thirdly, this is inexorably followed not so much by the arrival in a safe haven as by the compelling necessity of engaging with an alien and often inscrutable new culture. Such a trinity constitutes deep human trauma. It has the effect of radically disrupting the normal coping mechanisms as well as rupturing the very core of personal identity. Robert Jay Lifton, whose work on the psychological accompaniments of crisis is seminal, suggests that in a real THE TRAUMA OF CULTURAL DISPlACEMENT 9 way the survivor of such violence suffers a death: the death of the self.1 Nothing can ever be quite the same again. What eventually may begin to emerge is a sense of survival which translates itself into the task of re-building identity, and the recreating of a range of relationships, and con-nections in which this can happen - a difficult task at the best of times but more so in a totally new world. Relational The psychological sequel of any trauma includes a sensed violation of the connection with meaningful others. And the questioning whether important human relationships are real, or of their quality. The trauma of refugee displacement adds another layer to this relational aspect. Many refugees will have to cope with real as well as perceptual diffi-culties in relationship. Generally, they will, quite literally, have been torn from core relationships through removal. They may also have been forced to question existing relationships following political intrigue and subse-quent betrayal in their country of origin. Some will have experienced torture at the hands of fellow nationals or even family members. In their new context there will be difficulties as they interact with offi-cialdom, or experience threats, rejection and negativity from existing residents. At times, there will also be the attitudes of fellow refugees to contend with as they, acting out their own saga of pain a_nd frustration, scapegoat vulnerable newcomers and vent their anger on them. Such experiences inevitably provoke questions not only about the reliability of others, but also tend to destablise a secure sense of self, promoting internal questioning, insecurity and an undermining of confidence and appreciation of one's own value and abilities. Meaning Human beings operate within a range of accustomed belief systems which give meaning to their lives and offer generally acceptable expla-nations about the world and its happenings. Such belief systems offer a framework through which sense can be made of the variety of events which we encounter. Belief systems can be political, ideological or, in-deed, theological. They generally encompass value systems and assump-1. R J. Lifton, Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima, 1991, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 10 NO LONGER STRANGERS: A DOCTRINE & LIFE SPECIAL tions about how to live life, and are very connected to the values and cultures in which we live. While they 'vary enormously from culture to culture and from individual to individual, their function is central in creating a sense of shared order. Trauma frequently has the result of inviting a profound questioning of these assumed values, and the world of values and belief systems rarely remains intact; it must be re-worked and re-ordered to include and make sense of both past and recent events as well as newly emergent realities. Sudden cultural or relational displacement can also create a huge perturbation through which we recognise that our former value systems are unshared in the new context, as well as no longer functioning ad-equately in the task of making sense of the events of our life. For refu-gees, the world view developed within their home community may well need a radical re-interpretation, if not re-invention to encompass the trauma of displacement and the world of new realities, beliefs and be-haviours encountered in the new cultural milieu. This constitutes the removal of another bedrock and poses the challenge of rediscovering a ~o~~ useful and effective way of sense-making. Until this can happen, IndiVIduals are often cast adrift on a sea where there seem to be no cer-tainties, no values and no certainty whatsoever. Resources The creation of a new sense of security and stability is dependant on an ability to recognise, access and utilise both internal and external re-sources. To be able to appreciate the internal personal resources and to recognise external resources as familiar and accessible is of prime assist-ance when faced with difficulty. Classical crisis theory, however, suggests that trauma results in a sense of being cut off not only from the sense of the core of self but also from one's awareness of internal resources which fuel coping mechanisms in situations of challenge. When external re-sources are masked by unfamiliar language, inaccessible and bureaucratic processes and difficulty of access, this add to the difficulty. REBUILDING Profound as all these influences are, those who have been displaced almost without exception enter into a process of rebuilding their lives in the new context. For some, depending on their personality, their previ-THE TRAUMA OF CULTURAL DISPLACEMENT 11 ous life experience, their level of adaptability and the level of their trauma, this will be easier than for others. There are those who will need to en-gage with their new world very slowly: for them the prime task may be the need for safety and security. Hence their energies will tend to go into re-creating and conserving as much as possible of the familiar. They may rarely venture outside their family, or the ethnic social or community group which they have discovered. Others will feel much more able to adventure and will have sufficient energy to engage with the new society, develop relationships and engage in creative networking. All, however, are in a process of adaptation. Their energies for new challenges will tend to be uneven; the process of human healing is never uniform and has its own ebbs and flows. There will for years, even for those who appear strongest, be areas of huge vulnerability which, as in grief, can be brought to the surface by the most unlikely events. And people will tend to be particularly sensitive to events in the home-land and to losses or changes within the family or community of origin from whom they are now physically separated. Whether rapid or more gentle, the process of rebuilding life does have a number of particular facets . Re-learning Refugees by definition consistently find themselves in places that are culturally, linguistically and racially alien.2 An important response is to engage in a learning project which encompasses three distinct but over-lapping phases. There is the new learning that is geared towards acquir-ing new information. Secondly, there is the learning that is related to the development of new coping mechanisms for the new context. Finally, there is a re-viewing of one's old assumptions and ways of seeing the world. Arrival in a new country where one is unfamiliar with the language and has little knowledge of how to access supports and no awareness of cultural norms, can pose problems for mere survival. Learning how to find accommodation, food, money, a job; how to acquire suitable cloth-ing or even how to ascertain what clothing might be necessary in an unfamiliar climate, are all central. Focusing on how to become appraised 2. L.A. Camino and R.M. Krulfeld. 1994. 'Introduction', in L.A. Camino and R.M. Krulfeld ( eds) Reconstructing Lives, Recapturing Meaning; Refugee Identity, Gender and Cultural · Change, 1994, London: Gordon and Breach Publishers. 12 NO LONGER STRANGERS: A DOCTRINE & LIFE SPECIAL of one's rights, even how to discover the new norms of behaviour; how to learn a new code of behaviour and communication are among the chal-lenges to be engaged with. Examples of difficulty are legion. One sixteen year old Mrican, escap-ing form the threat of ritual murder, arrived in Dublin alone and vulner-able on a freezing February day. He spent three nights sleeping in a phone box, because he did not know where or how to find help. A forty year old Congolese pastor, as soon as he was able to access the basics of survival, spent as much time as possible in bed during his first six months in Ireland. Nothing in his previous life had prepared him for the cold of an Irish winter or the pain of violent separation from his wife and children; the idea of meeting and interacting with new people was too much. So he learned to coped by withdrawal. At least when he slept he could escape the pain of separation and block out the cold; so he learned to deal with the first phase of engagement in the new context. Even when the necessities of survival are attended to, the larger and longer term questions of how to grasp the cultural norms, values and expectations of the host culture remain. Learning how to engage with the obliqueness of a strange culture, with its hidden meanings, implicit norms and unclear expectations is a huge challenge. Learning . to re-spond appropriately is even more challenging. There are few easy ways of engaging with such subtle layers of complexity. . And then there is the subtler level of re-learning one's view of the world or the self. Sahr Yambasu gives a vivid example his own experience of having to re-learn at that more delicate level [L] ike a revelatory experience it suddenly occurred to me one day . .. that perhaps success in life is not necessarily about a constant upward climb ... but is about how successfully one manages both the upward and downward trends, and also the curves. It was the dawn of a new way of seeing and being. It issued in a profound rethink of my circumstances in Ireland that led to the decision to engage in positive action with the hope of re-building my capacity for the society that I was now living in. 3 3. S. Yambasu, 'Interrogating Displacement', in A. Ryan and T. Walsh ( eds.), Unsettling the Horses, 2004, Maynooth: MACE, p. 38. · THE TRAUMA OF CULTURAL DISPLACEMENT 13 Re-inventing self The demand is not just to make sense of a new culture; rather it is to do something m,uch more radical. It is to re-invent the self in keeping with the demands, norms, messages and expectations of that culture. This is always a complex and delicate process; but it is essential to finding a way of being that fits and brings the desired rewards of con-formity with the new context. Even for privileged newcomers to any new culture, such as diplomatic personnel who may have an entree to per-sonal coaching, positions-of influence and a ready-made community of support, a steep learning curve is always implied. For those without these facilities, and already rendered vulnerable by their dislocation from home, the project is particularly difficult. Behaviours and values seen as accept-able, even honoured, in the country of origin may result in misunder-standing, anger and rejection in the new. Learning to cope with such re-actions as well as developing new behaviours seem essential to the proc-ess of adaptation and long term survival. Resourcefulness For those undertaking work with, or entering into relationship with refugees or asylum seekers, developing an understanding of the enor-mity of the displacement experience is important. This, however, is only part of the picture. In achieving an understanding of such circumstances it is essential not to be seduced by the disempowerment of sympathy alone. It is also vital to recognise the creativity and energy that can also be embedded in the experience. Most of those seeking refugee status have survived huge trauma; the fact that they have survived at all under-lines their strength, adaptability and potential for continued growth and development. Esther Edeko, a Nigerian nun reporting on her research among a group of Mrican refugees in Ireland, emphasises the profound resourcefulness which many refuges bring to bear on the huge tasks with which they are faced: '[D]espite having been violently uprooted from their home, the participants in the study demonstrated capacities for innovation and survival ... they manifested the vitality to create and ne-gotiate new roles and behaviour.' 4 4. E. Edeko, 'Wading into Unchart~d Waters' in Ryan, A. and T. Walsh (eds.), Unsettling the Horses. 2004, Maynooth: MACE, p. 49. 14 NO LONGER STRANGERS: A DOCTRINE & LIFE SPECIAL . The chal~enge for refugees, then, is to engage in a process of recreat-mg the self m a way that fits with the new society WI"th a VI·ew t · . . , o creating p~rsonal stabili?' and economic and social security. An essential part of this endea~our IS to draw on the internal resources and potentials cre-ated by their whole l~fe ~xperience, and the resources and supports that can be_ ~arshalled Withm their new environment. The ability to analyse ~nd cntiC~lly reflect_ on both old and new cultures as well as on previous hfe ex~enence are Important in developing ways of responding to and managmg th~ f~esh context. The availability of support groups from the country of_ O~Igm, or a community of long term residents, or a mixture of bo~h, Willmg to provide a safe context in which to learn, question, expenment and explore such areas, is of huge importance in this proc-ess. Levels of Engagement between Cultures 1 ANNE RYAN Many Church congregations, whose membership is increasingly cultur-ally diverse, are grappling with decisions about how to create an environ-ment that facilitates in'teraction between people from different cultural backgrounds. These congregations are at the forefront of shaping a new era, not only in their local Church community, but also in Irish society where models of cultural inclusiveness are scarce. Being at the forefront of any new venture is always exciting, but rarely comfortable. Breakers of new ground can find themselves isolated in systems that place little value on their endeavours. In addition they often face resistance from those who cherish established ways of doing things (not primarily because they are effective but because they are established) and who fear that disturbing the status quo will result in a loss of control. With these difficulties in mind, this chapter is intended to stimulate dis-cussion among those who are carving a new future for their entire con-gregation. What follows are ideas and examples drawn from lessons that have been learned in the creation of inclusive communities. They are not meant to be prescriptive solutions to the particular difficulties and opportunities these congregations encounter. Instead, it is hoped that they will make it possible to look afresh at everyday experiences of cross-cultural interaction in ways that allow for new insights. RESPONDING TO CHANGE If one feature in our society appears to hold constant, it is the cer-tainty of change.2 1. This chapter draws on a paper jointly delivered by the author and Dr Tom Collins, Director of the Dundalk Institute for Technology, at a colloquium on interculturalism at NUl Maynooth, 18th September 2004. 2. S.D. Brookfield, Developing Critical Thinkers: Challengir~,g Adults to Explore Alternative Ways of Thinking and Acting, 1997, Milton Keynes: Open University Press. 

The Trauma of Cultural Displacement.

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The Trauma of Cultural Displacement.

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