Afana A., Pedersen D., Rønsbo H., Kirmayer L. J. (2010). Endurance is to be shown at the first blow: Social representations and reactions to traumatic experiences in the Gaza Strip. Traumatology, 16(2), 43-54. Original DOI: 10.1177/1534765610365913. This article has been retracted due to the republishing of this article in the December 2010 issue of Traumatology, 16(4). The republishing is due to the necessity of including this article as a part of a Special Issue on “Culture and Trauma” in 16(4), for which this article was originally picked by Special Issue Guest Editors Dr. Sandra Mattar and Dr. Boris Drožđek. Please find the republished article now in Traumatology, 16(4), 73-84. DOI: 10.1177/1534765610395663.
In this article, we propose that coping is not only an individual property but also a structural feature. Coping shapes what is referred to in social network theory as multiplex networks, which are based on relations with multiple functions, values and meanings. Focus groups with adult Palestinians were held and content analysed. Five main coping strategies were identified: (a) creating cultural and religious meaning; (b) individualism to collectivism; (c) normalization and habituation; (d) belonging, acceptance, expectation and readiness; and (e) social support. Participants also reported culture-specific expressions for indicating psychological distress. Implications for cultural informed clinical work are then discussed.
Research and clinical practice in the field of trauma has emphasized the construct of posttraumatic stress disorder. However, trauma has broader meanings that reflect its impact on the fabric of social life and that may be relevant to clinical understanding and intervention. This article illustrates the larger meanings of trauma with data from a pilot study designed to investigate the social representations of trauma and ways in which trauma is defined (i.e., meanings assigned to trauma) among Palestinians living in protracted conflict situations in the Gaza Strip. Ethnographic interviews conducted with key informants living in the Gaza Strip suggest that social representations and meaning of trauma can be classified into three main types according to the level and nature of the symptoms associated with the experience, severity, patterns of resort to treatment, and long-term effects: sadma (trauma as a sudden blow with immediate impact), faji’ah (tragedy), and musiba (calamity). Sadma is used metaphorically to refer to painful events that happen suddenly. Faji’ah is used to describe the reaction to an extraordinary event, mainly the loss of a loved one. Musiba is used when traumatic events are persistent and have long-term consequences. Popular descriptions and relationships among these terms and their meanings and relationships to common idioms of distress are illustrated. Examining cultural variations in the understanding and expression of trauma-related distress has implications for the definition of trauma-related disorders in psychiatric nosology, as well as for the design and delivery of culturally appropriate clinical and community interventions.
The paper analyzes state formation as the process whereby power/knowledge complexes organize, use and produce social space. In particular the focus is placed on private land ownership as a historical form of land possession. Privatization of land as a technique of government produced a homogeneous fragmentation of space, and the argument made in the paper is that this space became the primary technique in the construction of dualized Salvadorean society based on the exclusion from the political nation of a large group of delinquent and deviant bodies that should be policed, and the inclusion in the political nation of a small group of land owning individuals that took part in politics.
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