Involuntary Dislocation complexities in our world today

Involuntary Dislocation complexities in our world today: systemic reflections, challenges and opportunities.

In our world today, we are witnessing a rather surprising paradox. On the one hand, we are experiencing an excruciatingly painful and extraordinarily varied range of involuntary dislocation phenomena, and on the other hand, the conceptualisation of these phenomena by the main disciplines that are meant to address them remains extremely limited. Wars, global warming, earthquakes and other natural disasters, social and economic inequalities, produce highly complex Involuntary Dislocation phenomena, and yet, the main psychosocial approaches tend to be restricted within the confines of a ‘trauma discourse’ framework. What is even more surprising is that this paradox is hardly noticed.
The essence of systemic thinking is about the complexities of the formation of connections and relationships, and of the challenges in maintaining such links. Although such complexities are central to Involuntary Dislocation phenomena, relatively little of this thinking is applied to the current relevant conceptualisation and interventions.
In this presentation, using principles of systemic thinking, an attempt will be made to explore these paradoxes and to examine afresh the basics of these phenomena, by developing an innovative epistemological framework to re-view the varied forms of Involuntary Dislocation as well as the experiences of the adversity survivors and the efforts to assist them. The intention is to identify key epistemological traps that skew our conceptualisations, preventing us from appropriately grasping the varieties and impact of these phenomena, and from pursuing effective therapeutic interventions.

Prof. Renos Papadopoulos

Renos K Papadopoulos, PhD., is Professor and Director of the 'Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees' (at the University of Essex, as well as Honorary Clinical Psychologist and Systemic Family Psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic; in addition, he is a training and supervising Jungian psychoanalyst and systemic family psychotherapist in private practice. As consultant to the UN and other organisations, he has been working with refugees, tortured persons, trafficked people and other survivors of political violence and disasters in many countries. He lectures and offers specialist trainings internationally and his writings have appeared in 18 languages. Recently, he has been given awards by the ‘European Family Therapy Association’ for his ‘Outstanding contribution to the field of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice’, by the University of Essex for the ‘Best International Research Impact’, by two Mexican Foundations for ‘exceptional work with vulnerable children and families in Mexico’ and by the ‘International Association of Jungian Studies’ the ‘C.G. Jung 2022 Award’ for lifetime achievement in the field of Jungian scholarship’.
His last two books are on ‘Moral Injury’ and ‘Involuntary Dislocation’. Especially the latter one has been hailed as inaugurating a new paradigm in the field.