The Past if Past: The Use of Memories and Self-Healing Narratives in Refugees from the Former Yugoslavia

Abstract

Especially in the case of refugees, the past and its memory tend to be definitional components for personal and social constructions of identity. At the same time, the relationship with the past is frequently problematic and challenging. This study identifies two main narratives and subject positions adopted by refugee participants from the former Yugoslavia: ‘the past is past’ and ‘the past is our strength.’ I analyse the complexity implicit in these two narratives about the past. Although these narratives at first appear contradictory, the participants’ stories illustrate the ways in which they co-operate for the development of mental health in refugees. The ongoing dialogue between the two narratives allows for the participants’ endorsement of subject positions that refer to both individual and collective identities. The strategic use of history permits reinterpretations and relocations of traumatic memories as well as the formation of self-healing narratives that reframe refugee identities in the light of ethnic history and shared experience. I critically discuss the implications of this narrative reframing in relation to aspects of dominant discourses about refugee mental health and postmodern considerations in psychology and counselling.

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