Since June 2019, 12 Belgian women and 30 children have returned from the Kurdish detention camps in northeast Syria. Once they reach Belgium, the women/mothers are taken to prison and the children are either fostered by their families or in youth institutions. They each have to find their place in the society from which they were and, in some cases, still are estranged.
With the use of ethnographic and arts-based methods, an attempt is made to understand social (re)integration processes and practices from the perspective of the children and family members. Using narrative life storytelling and geographical life storytelling, lived emotions and experiences can find a place, enabling reflection and rich narratives about their relations to society (neighborhoods, media) and reintegration services (health and youth care, social and legal services, education).
This seminar will outline some of this work.
Biography
Graduated as a clinical psychologist at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Hannan Jamaï started as a crisis counselor at the CAW (Centrum Algemeen Welzijnswerk). From here on her interest in working systemically with individuals and families grew and led her to obtain a postgraduate degree in relational, family and systemic psychotherapy. She is also interested in trauma and works as an EMDR practitioner (in training).
Since 2018, Hannan has been actively promoting the repatriation of stranded children and their mothers in the camps in Northeast Syria. As part of her PhD research, she is researching the reintegration female returnees and their children under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Iman Lechkar and Prof. Dr. Gerrit Loots.