Bosnian Refugees in Chicago: Gender, Performance, and Post-War Economies studies refugee migration through the experiences of survivors of the 1990s wars in former Yugoslavia as they rebuild home, family, and social lives in the wake of their displacement. Ana Croegaert explores post-1970s Yugoslav-era socialism, American neoliberal capitalism, and anti-Muslim geopolitics to examine women’s varied perspectives on their postwar lives in the United States. Based on more than a decade of fieldwork, Croegaert takes readers into staged performances, coffee rituals, protests, memorials, homes, and non-governmental organizations to shine a light on the pressures women contend with in their efforts to make a living and to narrate their wartime injuries. Ultimately, Croegaert argues that refugee women insist on understanding their wartime losses as simultaneously social and material, a form of personhood she labels “injured life.” At a time of mass displacement and heated political debates concerning refugees, Croegaert provides an engaging portrait of a lively and diverse group of women whose opinions on citizenship and belonging are needed now more than ever.

The first Bosnians settled in Chicagoland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, joining other immigrants seeking better opportunities and better lives. As the former Yugoslavia continued to find its identity as a nation over the last century, the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina sought stability and new beginnings in the city of Chicago--many intending to return to their homeland. Today as many as 70,000 Bosnians and their descendants live in the Chicago area, representing different faiths, backgrounds, and motivations for making America their new home. Bosnian Americans of Chicagoland examines the journey of this group, its legacy, and its traditions and customs that have lasted since the first immigrants arrived a century ago.

This study examined whether a relationship exists between the presence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and health behavior outcomes. The study also examined the severity of PTSD symptomatology and particular health behaviors, among adult Bosnian Muslim male refugees residing in the greater Chicago area more than a decade after their arrival to the United States. 637 Bosnian Refugees in Chicago Questionnaires (BRCQ) were included in data analysis. Seven research hypotheses were tested using either the Pearson chi-square tests of independence or two independent sample t tests. This study found a statistically significant relationship between the presence of PTSD symptomatology and the respondents0́9 general health rating, recentness of a dental visit, and smoking frequency. Statistically significant relationship was found to exist between the severity of PTSD symptomatology and engagement in physical activity, availability of healthcare coverage, and sufficiency of funds for healthcare services. The study did not find a statistically significant relationship between PTSD status and the recentness of a routine medical visit. This study highlights the need for further studies among Bosnian refugees, as well as other refugee populations, long after their permanent resettlement in their host country, since most of the current programs and policies focus on newly arriving refugees, with very little focus on long-term and ongoing follow-up.

In April of 1992, war began in Bosnia. Sarajevo, site of the 1984 Winter Olympics, and, we were told, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, became a city under siege. For all of the people of Bosnia, life shifted in unimaginable ways in a matter of hours, days, or weeks. An immediate exodus began from Bosnia, and people who had never anticipated leaving their country became refugees, dependent upon a world system of resettlement for displaced persons. This book relates the experiences of a hundred Bosnian families who came to Utica, a town in upstate New York. Bosnians in Utica came here as refugees - ginning in 1993, having ?ed from the wars of succession in the former Yugoslavia. Our study evolved over several years as a result of our interests in the war in Bosnia and the massive ?ow of refugees that it precipitated. We began work on the project in the late 1990s as we set out to learn about the war and to explore refugee experiences of displacement, transit, and resettlement. Our intent is to portray the experience of Bosnian refugees in one American city and to capture, in their words, in as much detail as possible their adjustment to a new community and a new culture.

The Bosnian Diaspora: Integration in Transnational Communities provides a comprehensive insight into the situation of the Bosnian Diaspora, including not only experiences in 'western' countries, but also the integration experiences of Bosnian migrants in neighbouring territories, such as Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. The book presents the latest trans-national comparative studies drawn from the US and Australia as well as countries across Europe, to explore post-crisis interactions among Bosnians and the impact of post-conflict related migration. Examining the common features of the Diaspora, including the responses of migrants to changes within Bosnia and the position of displaced people in both Bosnian society itself and local political discourses, this volume addresses the influence of global anti-Muslim rhetoric on the Bosnian Diaspora's self-identification and refugees' relationships to their home country. The extent to which refugees and returnees can be described as agents of globalization and social change is also considered, whilst addressing the issue of Bosnian integration into various receiving countries and the influence exercised by European reception policies on receiving nations outside Europe. An extensive exploration of a major post-conflict European Diaspora, this book will appeal to those with interests in migration, ethnicity, integration and the displacement effects of Yugoslav conflicts.

It is estimated that at least 33 million people around the world have been displaced from their homes by war or persecution. Numerous studies have documented high rates of psychological distress among these survivors of extreme violence and forced migration, yet very few have access to clinic-based mental health care. In any case, clinic-based services cannot adequately address the constellation of displacement-related stressors that affect refugees daily, whether in a new region of their homeland or a new country--stressors such as social isolation, the loss of previously valued social roles, poverty and a lack of employment opportunities, and difficulties obtaining education and medical care. Additionally, many refugees from non-western societies find western methods of psychiatric and psychological healing culturally alien or stigmatizing, and therefore underutilize such services. This book brings together an international group of experts on the mental health of refugees who have pioneered a new approach to healing the psychological wounds of war and forced migration. Their work is guided by an ecological model, which, in contrast to the prevailing medical model of psychiatry and clinical psychology, emphasizes the development of culturally grounded mental health interventions in non-stigmatized community settings. The ecological model also prioritizes synergy with natural community resources to promote adaptation, prevention over treatment, the active involvement of community members in all phases of the intervention process, and the empowerment of marginalized communities to address their own mental health needs. Drawing on their expertise in community psychology, prevention science, anthropology, social psychology, social psychiatry, public health and child development, the authors present a variety of highly innovative, culturally grounded interventions designed to improve the mental health and psychosocial well-being of communities that have survived the nightmares of political repression, civil war, and genocide. They discuss the various conceptions of well-being and distress that have informed their projects, their own integrations of western and indigenous approaches to understanding and relieving psychological distress, and in several instances their creative use of well-trained paraprofessionals. They examine with remarkable candor the challenges they have faced in carrying out their work in extraordinarily demanding conditions. An extended introductory chapter reviews and analyzes what we know about the impact of political violence and exile on mental health, and lays out the ecological model in rich theoretical and empirical context. The first of two concluding chapters addresses the critical and often-neglected issue of the evaluation of community-based interventions in conflict and post-conflict settings; the second sums up the implications of the achievements and limitations of the programs described, poses questions that must be answered, such as "How adequate is the PTSD construct in capturing the nature of refugee trauma?", and suggests numerous directions for future research and practice. The Mental Health of Refugees: Ecological Approaches to Healing and Adaptation is an essential reference for all professionals who seek to serve members of this vulnerable population, for those who train and supervise them, and for program administrators and policymakers concerned with refugee well-being. It is also an excellent resource for graduate courses in public mental health, community psychology and psychiatry, refugee and immigrant studies, psychological trauma, medical anthropology, and ethnopolitical violence.

This edited volume investigates European approaches to migrants, European Union migration policies, and the EU-Turkey refugee agreement. The contributors also analyze issues related with migration in Turkey and Syria and specifically study the Syrian refugee crisis.