| Forced migration causes health problems. The public health literature on population displacement concentrates on the epidemiology of infectious diseases and the psychosocial impact of violence and disasters. While much of the focus is on the causes of the journey, the voyage, and the destination of refuge, the places of origination are not usually in the conversation. Contributions from the psychology of place teach us that place attachment, place identity, and place familiarity are all necessary for healthy living. When individuals are uprooted from their places, they experience grief and resource loss and they face major tasks of relocation. These stressors exacerbate the negative health consequences of displacement. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the feasibility of integrating the findings from the psychology of place into the current practice of humanitarian aid in situations of mass displacement.; Qualitative methods of data collection were used to obtain an in-depth understanding of the intersectional relationship between the psychology of place, the study of forced migration, and the policies and practices of humanitarian affairs. Scholars and practitioners in the field of forced migration, the psychology of place, and humanitarian affairs participated in semi-structured interviews.; Scholars spoke about the importance of the psychology of place and the long term health consequences of uprooting people from their built and familiar environments. They emphasized that the health effects of forced migration had long term negative impacts on both the directly affected population and the global community. Furthermore, they asserted that both the direct and indirect consequences of uprooting individuals from their known surroundings have genocidal implications.; Among practitioners, the psychology of place was widely agreed to be an issue that is not consciously applied to humanitarian discourse. While there were variations on the interpretation of the theory, the common finding was that the concept of place matters. Furthermore, subjects mentioned ways in which practitioners attempt to incorporate aspects of the psychology of place into their work. Finally, they suggested the creation of a working group to facilitate the conscious application of the psychology of place into humanitarian affairs. |
