Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

My Dad Was, Is a Soldier

Using Collaborative Poetic Inquiry to Explore Intergenerational Trauma, Resilience, and Wellbeing in the Context of Forced Migration

Bibliographic Data

ID5936070
AuthorsLydia Wanja Gitau (0000-0003-3473-9367, UNSW Sydney, corresponding author), Achol Arop (Deakin University), Caroline Lenette (0000-0002-2317-0438, UNSW Sydney)
Year2023
Volume12
Issue8
Pages455
Publication date2023-08-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2076-0760 • E-ISSN: 2076-0760
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/socsci12080455
OpenAlexW4385840360
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited43

The topics of intergenerational trauma, resilience, and wellbeing as they relate to forced migration are receiving more attention in the arts and health literature. Yet, we know very little about how refugee-background young adults manage their psychosocial wellbeing when they grow up surrounded by stories of conflict, loss, and trauma. Achol has been writing poetry to represent and amplify the narratives of those around her (parents, family, and the South Sudanese community in Sydney, Australia). These stories are central elements of her lived experience and the diverse experiences of her community. Using collaborative poetic inquiry, this paper identifies key themes in one of her poems, My dad was, is a soldier, to illustrate how poetry is an important artistic mode of expression that can improve our understanding of intergenerational trauma, resilience, and wellbeing. Rather than conveying interview data through research poems, we place Achol's poem at the centre of our collaborative poetic inquiry to gain new insights into refugee lived experiences. This paper contributes to contemporary debates on how artistic means enrich our knowledge of psychosocial wellbeing through trauma-informed, culturally safe, and decolonial research methods

Aesthetics · Art · Context (archaeology · Literature · Lived experience · Narrative · Poetry · Psychoanalysis · Psychological resilience · Psychosocial · Psychotherapist · Refugee · Sociology · Art Therapy and Mental Health · Gender Studies · History · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology · Resilience and Mental Health · Social Psychology

  • I Can’t Even Talk to My Parents About It’

    Open Access•Amani Kasherwa, Caroline Lenette et al.•Social Sciences•2024

  • Unlocking the Potential of the Decolonial Approach in Migration Studies

    Open Access•Ionela Vlase•Sociology Compass•2024

  • Architectures of counter remembrance

    Open Access•Vivetha Thambinathan, L Wylie et al.•Qualitative Research in Psychology•2025

  • Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Aspirations Among Refugee Families

    Open Access•Meseret F Hailu, Setrag Hovsepian et al.•Social Sciences•2024

  • Suicide Research with Refugee Communities

    Open Access•Caroline Lenette•Social Sciences•2023

  • Gender and Forced Migration

    Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh•Oxford Handbook of Refugee and…•2014

  • Analysing Political Discourse

    Paul Chilton•Analysing Political Discourse•2004

  • The Mental Health of Refugees

    Kenneth E Miller, Lisa M Rasco•Mental Health of Refugees•2004

  • Intergenerational Trauma in Refugee Families

    Open Access•Cindy C Sangalang, Cindy Vang•Journal of Immigrant and Minority…•2017

  • Understanding ‘Marginal’ Perspectives

    Open Access•Dorothy Bottrell•Qualitative Social Work•2009

  • A Critical Review of Resilience Theory and Its Relevance for Social Work

    Open Access•Adrian D Van Breda, Adrian van Breda•Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk•2018

  • Trauma-Informed Social Work Practice

    Open Access•Carolyn Knight•Clinical Social Work Journal•2015

  • Participatory Action Research

    Caroline Lenette•Participatory Action Research•2022

  • Arts-Based Methods in Refugee Research

    Open Access•Caroline Lenette•Arts-Based Methods in Refugee…•2019

  • The Neoliberal Subject

    David Chandler, J Reid•Neoliberal Subject•2016

  • ‘We don’t have to go and see a special person to solve this problem’

    Open Access•Michael Savic, Anna Chur-Hansen et al.•International Journal of Social…•2016

  • Climate geopoetics (the earth is a composted poem)

    Open Access•Eric Magrane•Dialogues in Human Geography•2020

  • The power of the poem”

    Heidi Van Rooyen, Zaynab Essack et al.•Arts & Health•2020

  • Resistance as resilience

    Open Access•Lydia Gitau, Lydia Wanja Gitau•Journal of International…•2022

  • Children in families of torture victims

    Open Access•Atia Daud, Erling Skoglund et al.•International Journal of Social…•2005

  • Collaborative Poetic Processes

    Open Access•Susan M Manning, Susan Manning•Qualitative Report•2018

  • Now let me share this with you”

    Open Access•Gabriel Eshun, Clare Madge•Antipode•2012

  • Parental styles in the intergenerational transmission of trauma stemming from the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia

    Nigel P Field, Sophear Muong et al.•American Journal of Orthopsychiatry•2013

  • Poem is What?” Poetic Inquiry in Qualitative Social Science Research

    Open Access•M Prendergast•International Review of…•2009

  • Two-Eyed Seeing and other lessons learned within a co-learning journey of bringing together indigenous and mainstream knowledges and ways of knowing

    Open Access•Cheryl M Bartlett, Murdena Marshall et al.•Journal of Environmental Studies…•2012

  • Political violence, ethnic conflict, and contemporary wars

    Open Access•Duncan Pedersen•Social Science & Medicine•2002

  • "Living in "survival mode

    Open Access•Brent Bezo, Stefania Maggi•Social Science & Medicine•2015

  • The Golden Country

    Farida Fozdar•New Community•2009

  • Uniting Resilience Research and Practice With an Inequalities Approach

    Open Access•Angie Hart, Emily Gagnon et al.•SAGE Open•2016

  • Pre-Engagement as Method

    Open Access•Lydia Wanja Gitau, Gail Kenning et al.•International Journal of…•2022

  • Water under the bridge? Nature, memory and hydropolitics

    Open Access•Hywel M Griffiths•Cultural Geographies•2014

  • Expressive, research and reflective poetry as qualitative inquiry

    Open Access•Rich Furman, Carol L Langer et al.•Qualitative Research•2007

  • Refugee mental health and human rights

    Open Access•Rachel Kronick, G Eric Jarvis et al.•Transcultural Psychiatric…•2021

  • Sleep difficulties among South Sudanese former refugees settled in Australia

    Open Access•Dorothy Bruck, Santino Atem Deng et al.•Transcultural Psychiatry•2021

  • To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield

    Open Access•Debbie C Hocking•Transcultural Psychiatric…•2021

  • The Only Way I Can Say This

    Open Access•Michelle Reale•Journal of Contemporary Ethnography•2014

Unique citing works5
Citations per year1,67
Citation span2023 - 2025 (3)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 5
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae