Coloniality, Violence, and Intergenerational Trauma among Displaced Syrians

Abstract

Intergenerational trauma is a recognized outcome of situations of mass trauma involving violence, such as the Syrian displacement crisis. One pathway for the transmission of intergenerational trauma is through violence against children. A decolonial lens has been used to understand intergenerational transmission of trauma in Indigenous communities in the US (Brave Heart, 2003; Faimon, 2004; Walters & Simoni, 2002), linking present-day issues with histories of mass colonial violence. This paper sought to examine whether there is a process of learning between peripheral communities in the colonial world system around the question of intergenerational transmission of trauma, and investigated whether a similar decolonial lens is being used to contextualize instances of violence against children in displaced Syrian communities within histories of colonial violence. The paper did not use well-tested models that could lead to targeted therapeutics, but rather, used broad models that allow for a conception of current mental health issues within the context of community and history. It adopted a scoping review approach and screened 1,024 unique results from a systematic search of twelve psychological, sociological, and medical databases, and additional results from a grey literature search. No results fully addressed the research question, but eight results partially addressed it and were included in the analysis. Five of the results linked displacement/MENA identity to violence against children, two linked coloniality to displacement/MENA identity, and one linked colonization to violence against children. Three themes shared across these groupings were: lack of access to justice, creation of labels by colonial powers, and identity issues. This paper identified a large gap in the literature, revealing an urgent need to investigate further the ways that the colonial pasts of displaced Syrian communities can inform the intergenerational transmission of trauma, and identified an emerging public mental health field at the intersection of coloniality, displacement, and intergenerational trauma.