Unpacking the micro-macro nexus: Narratives of suffering and hope among refugees from Burma recently settled in Australia

Journal article


Brough, Mark, Schweitzer, Robert, Shakespeare-Finch, Jane, Vromans, Lynette and King, Julie. (2013). Unpacking the micro-macro nexus: Narratives of suffering and hope among refugees from Burma recently settled in Australia. Journal of Refugee Studies. 26(2), pp. 207 - 225. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fes025
AuthorsBrough, Mark, Schweitzer, Robert, Shakespeare-Finch, Jane, Vromans, Lynette and King, Julie
Abstract

Narratives of forced migration are open to a variety of interpretations. In mental health, refugee narratives of arduous journeys in the face of systemic macro socio-political forces are often transformed from this context into a medicalized micro context of inner individual worlds. Both the dominant pathogenic lens of trauma studies and the growing salutogenic lens embodied in resilience research, often reflect a western cultural idiom of focusing on the individualized nature of these phenomena. Using qualitative data collected among refugees from Burma now settling in Australia, the article emphasizes the need for a more reflexive and expansive account of both suffering and hope within refugee narratives. It recounts these narratives within a conceptual framework which acknowledges the importance of the connections between the micro, individual experience and the macro, socio-political context. This is not only a question of political principle, but also a matter of listening to the voice of those who know most about the relationship between macro forces of human rights violations and their impact on individual, family and community trajectories.

Year2013
JournalJournal of Refugee Studies
Journal citation26 (2), pp. 207 - 225
ISSN0951-6328
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fes025
Scopus EID2-s2.0-84878965009
Page range207 - 225
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https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/8q1zw/unpacking-the-micro-macro-nexus-narratives-of-suffering-and-hope-among-refugees-from-burma-recently-settled-in-australia

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