An examination of the risks and resiliencies of those who are displaced and the role of the researcher in generating dialogical space: The case of internally displaced persons in Georgia

From 2010 to 2012, in-depth interviews were carried out with 49 long-term internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in urban collective centers in Georgia, a country in the South Caucasus. Participants described experiences with formal mental health services, support from informal and family care-givers, as well as perceptions of home, belonging, and social integration into host communities. Despite living in displacement for nearly two decades, IDPs described dynamic social support networks and informal care strategies. This paper critically examines the intersections among experiences of protracted displacement, life in collective center spaces, and access to social support. In so doing, it challenges the privilege assigned to place and rooted identities, as well as the assumed vulnerabilities of those who are displaced. What are the particular resiliencies of 'deterritorialization,' and how does being without place generate unique possibilities for community and identity? These questions have particular implications for developing community mental health programming that builds on groups’ own strategies and strengths. This paper also examines the researcher’s ethical obligations in translating the experiences of those who are displaced. The research encounter is contested and negotiated, but the researcher should seek to open up a space within which participants can respond. Particularly when working with those who are marginalized and who live literally and figuratively ‘on the borders,’ it is the researcher’s responsibility to create new spaces for dialogue and practice through writing, dissemination, and collaboration.