Civil war and the consequent forced uprooting of people from their homes are known to have deleterious effects on the psychosocial well-being of survivors and to disrupt whole communities. Cross-cultural research indicates that studies of traumatic events need to incorporate the culturally-specific contexts in which people live their lives in order to better understand how they embody and address traumatic experiences. A variety of environmental and human-derived resources also impact upon the ability of individuals to seek stability and well-being. This study addresses the dearth of research on people displaced by war in the Sudan who have been relocating in greater numbers to the United States. The proposed project involves a comparative study of Southern Sudanese Dinka residing in Cairo, Egypt and San Diego, California and is guided by two specific aims. I) To investigate the ways in which Dinka men and women conceptualize and manage their traumatic experiences in their everyday lives.
This aim i s thus concerned with the impact of personal, cultural, social, and environmental resources on coping strategies. II) To examine the role of social support networks in methods of coping and the extent to which they operate as mediators for trauma and suffering.
This aim will also explore how social support may extend beyond a given location of resettlement. The ways in which individuals displaced by war in different locations of resettlement attempt to work through trauma and rebuild their lives. Studies of individual and communal experiences of extreme adverse events are requisite to understanding the effects of trauma and to providing meaningful support to survivors.
