Going “Slowly Slowly”: An Ethnographic Engagement with Resettled Sudanese Men

Abstract

The civil wars between North and South Sudan have created one of the largest populations of displaced people in the world. This chapter introduces an ethnographic study with South Sudanese men who have resettled in Adelaide, Australia as former refugees and critically evaluates how they conceptualize and respond to trauma to highlight their agency and capacities to recover from difficult circumstances. The participants often used the term “slowly slowly” as an expression of working through adverse experiences to reduce the risk of retraumatization and as an approach to integrate into a new society. This chapter unpacks this phrase to highlight the complexities of conducting research with refugee communities and reinforces the need to maintain reflexivity, build interpersonal relationships and incorporate reciprocity to further consider the contested perspectives on trauma, resettlement, and recovery.

Citation

Marlowe, J.M. (2013), "Going “Slowly Slowly”: An Ethnographic Engagement with Resettled Sudanese Men", Denzin, N.K. (Ed.) 40th Anniversary of Studies in Symbolic Interaction (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 40), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 153-173. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-2396(2013)0000040010