Zana Vathi is Reader in Social Sciences at Edge Hill University.

Russell King is Professor of Geography at the University of Sussex and Visiting Professor of Migration Studies at Malmö University.

Introduction

The interface between return migration and psychosocial wellbeing

Zana Vathi, Edge Hill University, UK

1. The forced-voluntary continuum in return migration



Return to wellbeing? Irregular migrants and assisted return in Norway




Synnøve Bendixsen, University of Bergen, Norway




Hilde Lidén, Institute for Social Research, Norway




Forced to return? Agency and the role of post-return mobility for psychosocial wellbeing among returnees to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Poland




Marta Bivand Erdal, Peace Research Institute, Norway




Ceri Oeppen, University of Sussex, UK




Between 'voluntary' return programs and soft deportation: sending vulnerable migrants in Spain back 'home'




Barak Kalir, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands



2. Ancestral returns, adaptation and re-migration




Roots migration to the ancestral homeland and psychosocial wellbeing: young Polish diasporic students




Marcin Göda, University of ¿ód¿, Poland




'This country plays tricks on you': Portuguese migrant descendant returnees narrate economic crisis-influenced 'returns'




João Sardinha, Universidade Aberta, Portugal




David Cairns, University of Lisbon, Portugal




'Invisible' returns of Bosnian refugees and their psychosocial wellbeing




Selma Porobic, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina




3. Asylum systems, assisted returns, and post-return mobilities




'Burning without fire': the paradox of the state's attempt to safeguard deportees' psychosocial wellbeing




Daniela DeBono, Malmö University, Sweden




The return of refugees from Kenya to Somalia: ge

Return migration is a topic of growing interest among academics and policy makers. Nonetheless, issues of psychosocial wellbeing are rarely discussed in its context.
Return Migration and Psychosocial Wellbeing problematises the widely-held assumption that return to the country of origin, especially in the context of voluntary migrations, is a psychologically safe process. By exploding the forced-voluntary dichotomy, it analyses the continuum of experiences of return and the effect of time, the factors that affect the return process and associated mobilities, and their multiple links with returned migrants' wellbeing or psychosocial issues.
Drawing research encompassing four different continents - Europe, North America, Africa and Asia - to offer a blend of studies, this timely volume contrasts with previous research which is heavily informed by clinical approaches and concepts, as the contributions in this book come from various disciplinary approaches such as sociology, geography, psychology, politics and anthropology. Indeed, this title will appeal to academics, NGOs and policy-makers working on migration and psychosocial wellbeing; and undergraduate and postgraduate students who are interested in the fields of migration, social policy, ethnicity studies, health studies, human geography, sociology and anthropology.