Resilience and emotions in Palestinians

When studying emotional processes in communities that experienced trauma and loss, research has focused largely on negative emotions. Here we investigate positive emotions that are motivating members of such communities to be resilient. We hypothesized that communities such as Palestinians after the Nakba developed and elaborated emotional reactions that entail memory of the loss but also motivations to be resilient and resisting change. Indeed, prior research has pointed out such a hypercognized emotion concept, Surmud, in Palestinian refugees. The project will interview members of the Palestinian community living in refugee camps in Lebanon. We will code these interviews to describe emotional reactions to their identity in general, and Surmud in particular. The theoretical background assumes that this emotion is a version of kama muta, regulates social relations along communal sharing, and has similarities but also differences to nostalgia.