Throughout human history people have been driven from their homes by wars, unjust treatment, earthquakes, and hurricanes. The reality of forced migration is not new, nor is awareness of the suffering of the displaced a recent discovery. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that at the end of 2007 there were 67 million persons in the world who had been forcibly displaced from their homes -- including more than 16 million people who had to flee across an international border for fear of being persecuted due to race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion.

"Driven from Home" advances the discussion on how best to protect and assist the growing number of persons who have been forced from their homes and proposes a human rights framework to guide political and policy responses to forced migration. This thought-provoking volume brings together contributors from several disciplines, including international affairs, law, ethics, economics, and theology, to advocate for better responses to protect the global community's most vulnerable citizens.

Since 1996, when the deportation laws were hardened, millions of migrants to the U.S., including many long-term legal permanent residents with "green cards," have experienced summary arrest, incarceration without bail, transfer to remote detention facilities, and deportation without counsel-a life-time banishment from what is, in many cases, the only country they have ever known. U.S.-based families and communities face the loss of a worker, neighbor, spouse, parent, or child. Many of the deported are "sentenced home" to a country which they only knew as an infant, whose language they do not speak, or where a family lives in extreme poverty or indebtedness for not yet being able to pay the costs of their previous migration. But what does this actually look like and what are the systems and processes and who are the people who are enforcing deportation policies and practices? The New Deportations Delirium responds to these questions. Taken as a whole, the volume raises consciousness about the complexities of the issues and argues for the interdisciplinary dialogue and response. Over the course of the book, deportation policy is debated by lawyers, judges, social workers, researchers, and clinical and community psychologists as well as educators, researchers, and community activists. The New Deportations Delirium presents a fresh conversation and urges a holistic response to the complex realities facing not only migrants but also the wider U.S. society in which they have sought a better life.

Beyond Repair? explores Mayan women's agency in the search for redress for harm suffered during the genocidal violence perpetrated by the Guatemalan state in the early 1980s at the height of the thirty-six-year armed conflict. The book draws on eight years of feminist participatory action research conducted with fifty-four Q'eqchi', Kaqchikel, Chuj, and Mam women who are seeking truth, justice, and reparation for the violence they experienced during the war, and the women's rights activists, lawyers, psychologists, Mayan rights activists, and researchers who have accompanied them as intermediaries for over a decade. Alison Crosby and M. Brinton Lykes use the concept of "protagonism" to deconstruct dominant psychological discursive constructions of women as "victims," "survivors," "selves," "individuals," and/or "subjects." They argue that at different moments Mayan women have been actively engaged as protagonists in constructivist and discursive performances through which they have narrated new, mobile meanings of "Mayan woman," repositioning themselves at the interstices of multiple communities and in their pursuit of redress for harm suffered.

Beyond Repair? explores Mayan women's agency in the search for redress for harm suffered during the genocidal violence perpetrated by the Guatemalan state in the early 1980s at the height of the thirty-six-year armed conflict. The book draws on eight years of feminist participatory action research conducted with fifty-four Q'eqchi', Kaqchikel, Chuj, and Mam women who are seeking truth, justice, and reparation for the violence they experienced during the war, and the women's rights activists, lawyers, psychologists, Mayan rights activists, and researchers who have accompanied them as intermediaries for over a decade. Alison Crosby and M. Brinton Lykes use the concept of "protagonism" to deconstruct dominant psychological discursive constructions of women as "victims," "survivors," "selves," "individuals," and/or "subjects." They argue that at different moments Mayan women have been actively engaged as protagonists in constructivist and discursive performances through which they have narrated new, mobile meanings of "Mayan woman," repositioning themselves at the interstices of multiple communities and in their pursuit of redress for harm suffered.

"Drawing on over a decade of field experiences in Latin America as well as a burgeoning literature about the psychological and social effects of war and disasters, Martin Beristain developed this volume at the interface of theory and practice as one response to these complex social and political realities. Humanitarian Aid Work offers an excellent introduction to those seeking to respond to the complex social, political, cultural, and linguistic diversities within any humanitarian crisis."-from the Foreword Throughout the world, there is a rising need for humanitarian aid. Enormous resources are being devoted to it; more organizations carry out cooperative projects; and emergency actions have grown to unprecedented levels. However, such expansion has not always meant that relief has been more adequately provided to victims, nor has it always had positive effects in reconstructing the social fabric. This book helps us to understand how people respond to traumatic experiences in extraordinary circumstances and to appreciate the social and cultural context in which these responses occur. Carlos Martin Beristain offers a psychosocial approach that advocates a cultural sensitivity for humanitarian action and the work of collaboration, assistance, and accompaniment. He suggests alternative ideas for social reconstruction in such areas as prevention, care of victims, collective memory, respect for human rights, and help to the helpers. Humanitarian Aid Work offers a constructive approach to the problems of groups affected by violence, catastrophe, or emergency situations. It is intended as a critical manual for aid workers. Academic research in psychology and the social sciences-as well as the author's experience in Central and South America-has been summarized to yield clear, action-oriented guidance. Research results from Europe, Africa, and Asia are also incorporated.