Therapeutising Refugees, Pathologising Populations: International Psycho-Social Programmes in Kosovo. New Issues in Refugee Research

The first half of the paper discusses material that questions the international projection of refugees as traumatised. The second half of the paper explores psycho-social intervention as a new mode of external therapeutic governance.5 The paper suggests that the influence of a Western therapeutic ethos on international policy does not necessarily represent a humanist turn. Psycho-social intervention does not just simply entail cultural imperialism, that is, the imposition of a Western therapeutic model on other societies, which have their own coping strategies.

Key wordspost-traumatic stress disorder / refugees / trauma

CountriesKosovo

CategoryPublication