International Journal of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Migration Theories and Mental Health in Toni Morrison's Jazz


Affiliations
1 Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
 

This article aims to elaborate the relationship between migration and mental health problems that are evident in migrant women in Toni Morrison's Jazz (1992). To this end, pre-migration, migration and post-migration stress factors are identified in the novel based on Danish Bhugra's theory of migration. It seems that pre-migration stress factors and traumas are associated with the push theory of migration, while post-migration stresses are associated with the pull theory of migration. Despite post-migration stresses, the main female characters who encounter pre-migration stress factors and traumas are more likely to develop mental health problems like Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Although there is extensive literary criticism of Jazz (1992), no theoretical criticism exists that simultaneously covers migration theories and the mental health problems evident in Toni Morrison's female characters. It is worth highlighting that gender is a variable that correlates positively with migration and mental health. This article attempts to fill a gap in literary criticism and contribute to the body of research on mental health problems associated with gender and migration.

Keywords

Push-Pull Theory, Great Migration, Black Studies, Gender, Trauma, PTSD.
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Abel, E. (2012). Black Writing, White Reading: Race and the Politics of Feminist Interpretation. Critical Inquiry, 19(3), 470-498.

  • Aja, A. a. (2012). Anyone But Blacks. Souls, 14(1-2), 88-116. doi:10.1080/10999949.2012.718554.

  • Antonovsky, A. (1985). Hea lth, Stress, and Coping (p. 255). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

  • Barnes, D. H. (2000). Movin' on up: The Madness of Migration in Toni Morrison's Jazz. In D. Middleton (Ed.), Toni Morrison's Fiction: Contemporary Criticism (pp. 283-295). New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.

  • Bhugra, D. (2000). Migration and Schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. Supplementum, 102(407), 68-73. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11261645.

  • Bhugra, D. (2004). Migration and Mental Health. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 109, 243-258.

  • Bhugra, D., & Jones, P. (2001). Migration and Mental Illness. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 7, 216-223. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7371420.

  • Craps, S., & Buelens, G. (2008). Introduction: Postcolonial Trauma Novels. Studies in the Novel, 40 (1 & 2), 1-12. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/.

  • Chomsky, A. (2007). They Take Our Jobs: And 20 Other Myths about Immigration (p. 263). Boston: Beacon Press.

  • Chou, K.-L., Wong, W. K. F., & Chow, N. W. S. (2011). Interaction between pre- and post-migration factors on depressive symptoms in new migrants to Hong Kong from Mainland China. Community Mental Health Journal, 47(5), 560-7. doi:10.1007/s10597-010-9333-1.

  • Chu, T., Keller, A. S., & Rasmussen, A. (2012). Effects of Post-migration Factors on PTSD Outcomes Among Immigrant Survivors of Political Violence. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health/Center for Minority Public Health. doi:10.1007/s10903-012-9696-1.

  • Cohen, S., & Wills, T. a. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310-57. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3901065.

  • Collines, P. H. (2008). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge Classics.

  • Das-Munshi, J., Leavey, G., Stansfeld, S. a, & Prince, M. J. (2012). Migration, social mobility and common mental disorders: critical review of the literature and meta-analysis. Ethnicity & Health, 17(1-2), 17-53. doi:10.1080/13557858.2011.632816.

  • Dobbs, C., & Grewal, G. (1998). Circles of Sorrow, Lines of Struggle: The Novels of Toni Morrison. African American Review (Vol. 34, p. 362). Lousiana State University Press. doi:10.2307/2901266.

  • Eichenlaub, S. C., Tolnay, S. E., & Alexander, J. T. (2010). Moving Out but Not Up: Economic Outcomes in the Great Migration. American Sociological Review, 75(1), 101-125. doi:10.1177/0003122409357047.

  • Griffin, F. J. (1996). Who Set You Flowin'? The African Amercian Migration Narrative (p. 233). New York: Oxford.

  • Harris, W., Morrison, T., & Barbara, J. (2005). Postcolonial Narrative and the Work of Mourning: J . M . Coetzee, 51(3), 714-717.

  • Hua, A. (2012). Black diaspora feminism and writing: memories, storytelling, and the narrative world as sites of resistance. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, (0), 1-13.

  • Jaffe Schreiber, E. (2010). Race, Trauma, and Home in the Novels of Toni Morrison (p. 224). Baton Rouge: Lousiana State University Press.

  • Kirmayer, L. J., Narasiah, L., Munoz, M., Rashid, M., Ryder, A. G., Guzder, J., … Pottie, K. (2011). Common mental health problems in immigrants and refugees: general approach in primary care. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal: Journal de l'Association Medicale Canadienne, 183(12), E959-67. doi:10.1503/cmaj.090292.

  • Krohne, H. W. (2002). Stress and Coping Theories. International Encyclopedia of the Social Behavioral Sceinces, 22, 15163-15170.

  • Kumpikaite, V., & Zickute, I. (2012). Synergy of Migration Theories: Theoretical Insights, 23(4), 387-394.

  • Lanyado, M. (2004). The Presence of the Therapist (p. 158). New York: Burnner-Routledge.

  • Lazarus, S. R., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress Appraisal and Coping (p. 350). New York: Springer.

  • Matus, J. (1998). "A Sweettooth for Pain": History, Trauma and Replay in Jazz. In Toni Morrison, Contempoary World Writers (pp. 121-144). Manchester: Manchester Univeristy Press.

  • Major, B., & O'Brien, L. T. (2005). The Social Psychology of Stigma. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 393-421. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070137.

  • Middleton, D. (Ed.). (2000). Toni Morrison's Fiction: Contemporary Crticisim (p. 323). New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.

  • Morrison, T. (2005). Jazz (p. 230). London: Vintage.

  • O'Reilly, A. (2004). Toni Morrison and Motherhood A Politics of the Heart (p. 244). New York: State University of New York Press.

  • Okasha, A. (2005). Programme of the World Health Organization. World Psychiatry, 4(1).

  • Peach, L. (Ed.). (1998). New Casebooks Toni Morrison (p. 2011). London: Macmillan Press LTD.

  • Pearlin, L. I. (1999). Stress and mental health: A conceptual overview. Retrieved October 31, 2014, from psycnet.apa.org.

  • Petersen, W. (1958). A General Typology of Migration. American Sociological Review, 23(3), 256-266.

  • Portes, A. (1987). One Field Many Views Competing Theories of International Migration. Pacific Bridges: The New Immigration from Asia and the Pacific Islands, 5(3), 53-70.

  • Richardson Amos, S. L. (2005). Whose Dust is Rising?: Historical and Literary Narratives of the Northern Migration of African American Women. New York.

  • Ritsner, M., Ponizovsky, A., Nechamkin, Y., & Modai, I. (2001). Gender Differences in Psychosocial Risk Factors for Psychological Distress Among Immigrants. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 42(2), 151-60. doi:10.1053/comp.2001.19750.

  • Roth, S., & Cohen, L. J. (1986). Approach, Avoidance, and Coping With Stress. The American Psychologist, 41 (7), 813-9. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3740641.

  • Silove, D., Sinnerbrink, L., Field, A., Manicavasagar, V., & Steel, Z. (1997). Anxiety, Depression and PTSD in Asylum-Seekers: Assocations with Pre-Migration Trauma and Post-Migration Stressors. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 351-357. doi:10.1192/bjp.170.4.351.

  • Snel, E., & Staring, R. (2001). Poverty , Migration , and Coping Strategies: An Introduction. Focal European Journal of Anthropology, (38), 7-22.

  • Tafreshi Motlagh, L., & Wan Yahya, W. R. (2014). Migration, Trauma, PTSD: A Gender Study in Morrison's Jazz. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 5(3), 120-125. doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.3p.120.

  • Tally, J. (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Toni Morrison (p. 208). Cambridge: Cambridge.

  • Tolnay, S. E. (2003). The African American "Great Migration" and Beyond. Annual Review of Sociology, 29(1), 209-232. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.29.010202.100009.

  • Van Berkel, H. (2009). The Relationship Between Personality Coping Styles and Stress, Anxiety and Depression. Canterbury.

  • Vega.W, Kolody, B., & Valle, T. (1987). Migration and Mental Health: An Empirical Test of Depression Risk Factors among Immigrant Mexican Women. International Migration Review, 21(3), 512-53.

  • Williams, M. B., & Poijula, S. (2013). The PTSD Workbook (Second., p. 362). Oakland: New Harbinger Publications Inc.

  • Wyman, S. (2009). Imaging Separation in Tom Feelings' The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo and Toni Morrison's Beloved. Comparative American Studies, 7(4), 298-318. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/147757009X12571600892090.


Abstract Views: 363

PDF Views: 185




  • Migration Theories and Mental Health in Toni Morrison's Jazz

Abstract Views: 363  |  PDF Views: 185

Authors

Leila Tafreshi Motalgh
Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Wan Roselezam Wan Yahya
Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract


This article aims to elaborate the relationship between migration and mental health problems that are evident in migrant women in Toni Morrison's Jazz (1992). To this end, pre-migration, migration and post-migration stress factors are identified in the novel based on Danish Bhugra's theory of migration. It seems that pre-migration stress factors and traumas are associated with the push theory of migration, while post-migration stresses are associated with the pull theory of migration. Despite post-migration stresses, the main female characters who encounter pre-migration stress factors and traumas are more likely to develop mental health problems like Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Although there is extensive literary criticism of Jazz (1992), no theoretical criticism exists that simultaneously covers migration theories and the mental health problems evident in Toni Morrison's female characters. It is worth highlighting that gender is a variable that correlates positively with migration and mental health. This article attempts to fill a gap in literary criticism and contribute to the body of research on mental health problems associated with gender and migration.

Keywords


Push-Pull Theory, Great Migration, Black Studies, Gender, Trauma, PTSD.

References