Social support networks, a resilient shelter for displaced families with missing members

Abstract

Mexico suffers a humanitarian crisis because more than 95 thousand people have disappeared in the last 15 years. Families with missing relatives not only suffer many implications related with ambiguous loss, also deal with other problematics such as forced displacement. However, there are ways that make it possible to cope with adversity and overcome through reconstruction processes built on resilience. This analysis is derived from a qualitative research, based on in-depth interviews and participant observation, the aimed was investigate the alternatives that families with relatives disappeared who have suffered internal forced displacement have, recognizing the relational dimension of the resilience, it was intended find out the social support networks that they have. Among the most relevant findings are: families are more focused on searching for their relatives than on settling down in their new places of settlement; the most effective social support networks to collaborate in their safeguarding are built with families who also search for their disappeared; resilience processes are built primordially through the interaction and generation of affective bonds with members of the collectives and during searching actions. Through this analysis, it is concluded that although violence has a disarticulating power, it is not decisive on the lives of families as there is a resilient possibility of rebuilding through social support networks.