The pathology of victimhood: Mental health and the social construction of "trauma" among immigrant survivors of political violence in New York City.
Item
-
Title
-
The pathology of victimhood: Mental health and the social construction of "trauma" among immigrant survivors of political violence in New York City.
-
Identifier
-
AAI3330366
-
identifier
-
3330366
-
Creator
-
Chu, Tracy.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Barbara Katz Rothman
-
Date
-
2008
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Sociology, General | Psychology, Clinical
-
Abstract
-
This dissertation explores ways in which the social construction of trauma among undocumented immigrant survivors of political violence transcends the etiology of mental health pathology (e.g., PTSD). Its main research question is: How does trauma move between time (past versus present) and place (there versus here) in the lived experiences of survivors of political violence? This research attempts insight into the multiple oppressions---in politics, immigration law, and racial, ethnic, and cultural identity---that impinge upon individuals whose experiences and narratives may not singularly conform to the paradigms of clinical, legal, or political epistemologies.;The theoretical framework of this dissertation encompasses an intersection of social thought: Medicalization and the social construction of illness, theories of refugee migration, and theories of contemporary U.S. immigration and ethnicity. The data for this work include a quantitative sample of 1,360 clients of a multidisciplinary torture treatment clinic in New York City (NYC), a sub-sample of 25 qualitative interview and content analysis respondents, and participant observation at the clinic.;Findings reveal a multitude of post-migration hardships, including a profound convergence of these individuals' roles as asylum claimants (often facing deportation) and medical patients in their interaction with legal and medical institutions in the U.S. This convergence often leads to competing narrative demands in which the experiential truth of trauma must be presented variously, as testimony for tryors of fact and as objective symptomology for diagnosticians of pathology. Quantitative findings indicate the statistical significance of post-migration factors, most prominently immigration status, on ascribed clinical outcomes such as PTSD, depression and anxiety. Finally, looking at the immigration experiences of the two largest client groups, Africans and Tibetans, this research reveals high levels of material deprivation and problematic immigrant social networks that are a result of both current stresses and past exposure to political violence. Throughout their experiences, the racialization of participants' ethnic identities and contestations of nationhood, particularly within the unique political economy of NYC, often complicate their ability to negotiate emergent ethnic identities. These findings indicate that, for these individuals, conditions in the post-migration environment can be as detrimental, or traumatizing, as pre-migration experiences of violence.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
