Presenter Biography

I am a third year dual degree MSW and MPH Health Promotion candidate,

Institution

PSU

Program/Major

MSW/ MPH Health Promotion

Degree

MSW, MPH

Presentation Type

Poster

Start Date

4-4-2024 1:00 PM

Creative Commons License or Rights Statement

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41981

Subjects

complex trauma, trauma, PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, colonization, colonial, decolonization, decolonize mental health, settler-colonialism, Palestine, chronic stress

Abstract

The growing settler colonial project of Israel forced indigenous Palestinians to flee from their homeland to further the Zionist movement of establishing a Jewish-majority state. The forced dispossession and displacement of Palestinians at this time was referred to as the Nakba, or catastrophe (Masalha, 2002). From 1947 and 1949, approximately 750,000 Palestinians from a population of 1.9 million were made refugees (Al Jazeera, 2017). Also referred to as the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, Zionists forcibly took over 78 percent of Palestine, destroyed about 530 villages and cities, and killed around 15,000 Palestinians including more than 70 massacres (Al Jazeera, 2017). Since October 7th, 2023, Palestinians have continued to be under violent besiegement of the Israeli occupation through carpet bombings, forced starvation, aid deprivation, and massacres. Current figures still do not reflect an accurate number of Palestinian child fatalities in both Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian youth have been forced to live under violent occupation since they were born and have been reported to live with psychosocial challenges due to the conditions brought upon by Israeli occupation. According to Dr. Samah Jabr, the Palestinian head of mental health services, she described how there is no “post” in Palestinian youth facing trauma because it is never-ending. Furthermore, she continues how Westernized clinical definitions of mental health do not apply to the experiences of Palestinians (Goldhill, 2019). In exploring decolonial and Indigenous mental health frameworks and practices, how can they address the complex historical trauma of the ongoing violence of settler-colonialism among Palestinian youth?

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Apr 4th, 1:00 PM

Exploring Decolonial and Indigenous mental health framework and practice to address complex trauma among Palestinian youth living under violence of settler-colonialism

The growing settler colonial project of Israel forced indigenous Palestinians to flee from their homeland to further the Zionist movement of establishing a Jewish-majority state. The forced dispossession and displacement of Palestinians at this time was referred to as the Nakba, or catastrophe (Masalha, 2002). From 1947 and 1949, approximately 750,000 Palestinians from a population of 1.9 million were made refugees (Al Jazeera, 2017). Also referred to as the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, Zionists forcibly took over 78 percent of Palestine, destroyed about 530 villages and cities, and killed around 15,000 Palestinians including more than 70 massacres (Al Jazeera, 2017). Since October 7th, 2023, Palestinians have continued to be under violent besiegement of the Israeli occupation through carpet bombings, forced starvation, aid deprivation, and massacres. Current figures still do not reflect an accurate number of Palestinian child fatalities in both Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian youth have been forced to live under violent occupation since they were born and have been reported to live with psychosocial challenges due to the conditions brought upon by Israeli occupation. According to Dr. Samah Jabr, the Palestinian head of mental health services, she described how there is no “post” in Palestinian youth facing trauma because it is never-ending. Furthermore, she continues how Westernized clinical definitions of mental health do not apply to the experiences of Palestinians (Goldhill, 2019). In exploring decolonial and Indigenous mental health frameworks and practices, how can they address the complex historical trauma of the ongoing violence of settler-colonialism among Palestinian youth?