Assistant Professor of Social Work Seton Hall University Cranbury, New Jersey, United States
Overview: This phenomenological exploration of motherhood in Gaza aims to identify, culturally re-define, and examine clinical mental health symptomatology and its relationship to direct and indirect forms of violence exposure particular to settler-colonial occupation in Palestine.Proposal text: Aim of the presentation: The following oral presentation will offer the findings of a qualitative, phenomenological study that includes interviews with five Palestinian mothers in Gaza, Palestine.
Overarching purpose of study and presentation: While mental health has traditionally been pathologized at an individual level in Western psychology and psychiatry, the disturbing rates of mental illness among Palestinians is embedded within and primarily influenced by the historical and settler-colonial geopolitical context. As a result, the unique and nuanced experiences of suffering among Palestinians extends beyond the diagnostic categories of Western psychology that can often be reductionist in its understanding of the varieties of culturally-dependent experiences of suffering and trauma.
Thus, the purpose of this phenomenological exploration and presentation is to further understand the lived experience and mental health impacts (namely, trauma and the experience of suffering) of various structural aspects of oppression and occupation on mothers and motherhood – and by extension, children – unique to Gaza, Palestine.
Together, we will explore the following themes in the presentation: - Various structural aspects of oppression and occupation on mothers and motherhood in Gaza (within historical context and compared to other occupied territories). - Cultural definition of suffering and mental health - Mental health symptomology in socio/cultural context - Implications for practice
Attendees will gain new insights about emerging themes related to trauma, suffering, and the compounded mental health effects on mothers and motherhood general to occupation and more specifically to Gaza, Palestine.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion, participants will be able to identify the structural aspects of oppression and occupation on mothers and motherhood in Gaza (within historical context and compared to other occupied territories).
Upon completion, participants will be able to define suffering and mental health symptomology within a socio/cultural context.
Upon completion, participants will be able to make informed practice decisions related to public health initiatives and advocacy for just international policies.
