Social Science and Medicine
Volume 59, Issue 5, 2004, Pages 1095-1108

Remaking family life: Strategies for re-establishing continuity among Congolese refugees during the family reunification process (Article)

Rousseau C.* , Rufagari M.-C. , Bagilishya D. , Measham T.
  • a Department of Psychiatry, Montreal Children's Hospital, 4018 St. Catherine Street West, Westmount, Que. H3Z 1P2, Canada
  • b Table Concertation Organismes Au S., Personnes Refugiees et Immigrantes, 5181, rue Beaubien est, Montréal, Que. H2S 1S5, Canada
  • c Department of Psychiatry, Montreal Children's Hospital, 4018 St. Catherine Street West, Westmount, Que. H3Z 1P2, Canada
  • d Department of Psychiatry, Montreal Children's Hospital, 4018 St. Catherine Street West, Westmount, Que. H3Z 1P2, Canada

Abstract

The restrictive immigration and refugee policies of many Western countries force most refugee families to remain separated for long periods. Although there is much discussion among professionals in the community and the clinical milieu about the problems families encounter after reunification, the strategies employed by refugees to restore family life have not been paid much attention. This longitudinal study documents the pre- and post-reunification experiences of 12 refugee families from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Montreal. Our results suggest that family separation can be understood as an ambiguous loss, in that the temporary absence of other family members cannot be fully acknowledged because of the perpetual uncertainty and permanent risk to them. Memory work, in the form of shared family memories, attenuates the pain of the absence. Once reunited, family members must re-establish continuity in spite of the many denied rifts between them. The capacity to recall a personal, familial or collective history of previous separation and loss appears to be protective, as if the memory of life's discontinuities provides an opportunity to recreate a partial sense of continuity out of repeating experiences of chaos. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Author Keywords

families Refugees reunification Democratic Republic of Congo Separation

Index Keywords

family structure Parents longitudinal study refugee memory Spouses risk human Refugees life event Object Attachment Congo Humans family family life male immigration policy female Democratic Republic of the Congo Parent-Child Relations Article experience emotion adult normal human Loneliness Conflict (Psychology) Role Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-2942532339&doi=10.1016%2fj.socscimed.2003.12.011&partnerID=40&md5=049e9839d73e9ea8109919ed31a0e88d
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2003.12.011
ISSN: 02779536
Cited by: 58
Original Language: English