Living on the margins of society: exploring the traumatic experiences of deportee migrants in Ghana within the contexts of community cohesion, political stability, social exclusion and mental health

Abstract

While the deportation of migrants from around the world to Ghana is a common phenomenon, its socio-economic and political impact has not received considerable attention in policy and research. It is for this purpose that I set out to explore the traumatic experiences of deportee migrants within the contexts of community cohesion, social exclusion, mental health and political stability in Ghana. I adopted the constructivist paradigm in addition to critical race, structural social work and structuration theories to guide the study. The research used a qualitative research design. The study was carried out in the Ashanti, Bono and Greater Accra regions of Ghana. To recruit forty-one (41) participants, I used snowball sampling technique. The findings were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using phenomenological hermeneutic method. Overall, this study shows that reasons for migration, family and community expectations, process of deportation and reception upon arrival in country of origin characterize how deportee migrants name and explain deportation. It further reveals the factors that influence social inclusion or exclusion of deportee migrants in their receiving communities. The results indicate that deportation influences the mental health of deportees during the process of deportation and attempt to participate in normal life in their receiving communities. The findings also show that the family, social networks and nongovernmental organizations remain the largest social support system for deportees. The discussion draws out points of convergences and disagreements between the results, literature review and the theoretical frameworks. This study contributes to the gaps in the literature on deportation and offers a significant contribution that helps in the development of policy initiative on return migration and influences social work education and practice in Ghana.