Transformed ground, transformed body: clinical implications for dance movement therapy with forced migrants

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the role of dance movement therapy (DMT) with forced migrants. The displacement of people refers to the forced movement of people from their locality or environment and occupational activities. It is a form of social change caused by several factors, the most common being armed conflict, although natural disasters, famine, development and economic changes may also be causes of displacement. In this study we consider the current situation experienced by people who have been forcibly displaced and the circumstances under which they left their country of origin, their journey and survival in the host country. A bibliographic review of DMT work with forced migrants and refugees highlights the importance of movement as a therapy with this population and stresses the urgency to find solutions for their integration in the host societies.

KEYWORDS:

• Culture
• violence
• forced migrants
• refugees
• Dance Movement Therapy (DMT)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elena Aranda

Elena Aranda is a technical architect and a Dance Movement Therapist. Her professional experience is in co-operation as a technical project coordinator working some months each year in África. In Spain, she has worked with groups of people with mental health issues, children at risk of social exclusion, and adults with disabilities as a dance movement therapist. Elena is a member of the association MoViDaS who work with different populations through Dance Movement Therapy, in Spain.

Margaret Hills de Zárate

Dr Margaret Hills de Zárate is a Senior Lecturer in Art Psychotherapy at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Margaret has lectured and presented her work at conferences and seminars in Latin America (Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia), Europe, the US, the former USSR, Africa and the Caribbean. Her research interests are related ethnographic fieldwork in South America, Italy and Spain in the areas of migration, material culture, cultural studies, ethnography and arts-based research.

Heidrun Panhofer

Dr. Heidrun Panhofer is associate professor at the Department of Clinical Psychology at the Autonomous University in Barcelona where she has created and coordinates the Master’s and Postgraduate Diploma in Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) since 2003. She is one of the co-founders and a supervisory member of the Spanish Association for DMT- ADMTE and guest lecturer in several training programmes in Europe. Heidrun’s research interests are embodiment, body memory, interculturality, movement observation DMT supervision and practice.