The Floating Pumpkin Syndrome: Forced Migration, Humanitarian Aid, and the Culture of Learned Helplessness

Since the 1992–1995 war, Bosnia and Herzegovina has been going through a difficult process of transition, characterized by dependence on humanitarian aid and by major challenges regarding employment. Returnees and displaced persons have experienced many unfavourable circumstances and challenges. This paper draws from the findings gathered by the authors over several years of field research with more than 2000 returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly in areas with high return rates, including social housing beneficiaries. It offers a reflection of contextual factors in shaping the world of migrants and their potential to cope and adapt, and the role of donor agencies in imposing ‘learned dependency’. Using the metaphor of a pumpkin that floats on the water, following its currents, but retaining own integrity, the paper emphasizes that it may actually be the impact of adversity that awakens certain qualities and skills in people. Processes analogous to post-traumatic growth may be in effect in increasing the potential of the individual to develop a silent and potential form of understanding the world around oneself, a sort of ‘personal wisdom’. Hence, a positive psychology approach to studying the personal effects of forced migration wisdom is advocated.