Focaal
2014, Pages 91-104

From individual grief to a shared history of the bosnian war voice, audience, and the political in psychotherapeutic practices with refugees (Article)

Huttunen L.*
  • a University of Tampere, Finland

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between psychotherapeutic practices with people with refugee backgrounds and "the political". The relationship between voice and audience in psychotherapeutic practices is explored; through such an analysis the relationship between psychotherapy, history, and the political is considered. The theoretical questions are approached through a case study, a Bosnian man with refugee background living in Finland and attending psychotherapy there who invited the anthropologist to attend his therapy sessions. The analysis of the single case is situated within long-term ethnographic research on the Bosnian diaspora. Situating the personal in historical and moral plots, as well as seeking larger audiences beyond the confines of the therapeutic relationship, is seen as crucial in producing therapeutic effects. Simultaneously, the case enables a theoretical discussion about the relationships between voice, audience, and the political. © Stichting Focaal and Berghahn Books.

Author Keywords

Bosnia-herzegovina Refugees Voice Psychotherapy The political Audience History

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84897692995&doi=10.3167%2ffcl.2014.680107&partnerID=40&md5=f626317ad44811d1236f43e9ff577a4e

DOI: 10.3167/fcl.2014.680107
ISSN: 09201297
Cited by: 4
Original Language: English