Gender & Diversity Studies, Radboud University.
Gender Studies, Utrecht University.
Transcult Psychiatry. 2024 Feb;61(1):70-84. doi: 10.1177/13634615231191993. Epub 2023 Nov 7.
The conventional literature and popular media describe the challenges of (Syrian) refugees in terms of their being victims who need to deal with the traumatic events they experienced before and during their flight. Their lack of seeking professional psychosocial help to improve their mental wellbeing is often explained by migrants' supposed fear of stigmatization. Using in-depth interviews with 10 Syrian refugees in the Netherlands, we show that their main struggle concerns their identity fragmentation as a result of both their displacement and the stereotypical discourses of Muslim/Syrian people as victims or terrorists. In this article, we explore how Syrian refugee youths use strategic forgetting and remembering of both positive and negative memories to reconstruct their (collective) identity. Our finding that Syrian refugee youths use counter-narratives of being strong and competent to deal with their experience of identity fragmentation offers an alternative explanation for refugees not seeking professional help in dealing with their hardships.
传统文献和大众媒体将（叙利亚）难民的困境描述为他们是受害者，需要应对在逃离前和逃离期间经历的创伤性事件。他们缺乏寻求专业的心理社会帮助以改善心理健康，这通常被解释为移民对污名化的恐惧。通过对荷兰的 10 名叙利亚难民进行深入访谈，我们发现他们的主要困境是由于流离失所和对穆斯林/叙利亚人作为受害者或恐怖分子的刻板印象的言论，导致他们的身份认同碎片化。在本文中，我们探讨了叙利亚难民青年如何利用对积极和消极记忆的有意遗忘和铭记来重建他们的（集体）身份认同。我们发现，叙利亚难民青年使用坚强和有能力的反叙事来应对身份认同碎片化的经历，这为他们在应对困境时不寻求专业帮助提供了另一种解释。
