Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol 46(4), Nov 2026, 308-322; doi:10.1037/teo0000345
Increasing international geopolitical tensions, social upheavals, and mass migrations have displaced large numbers of people and landed them in extremely vulnerable circumstances. The diasporic refugee population is in need of support and care informed by psychological research that appreciates their experience and sense of agency, hope, and well-being under constrained circumstances. Theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of psychological inquiry can impinge upon that appreciative understanding. This study critically examined one such underpinning, atomism, and evaluated the contrasting assumption of holistic relationality to test the extent to which refugees’ experiences of agency and hope can be understood without rendering the meaning of those experiences precarious. Two questions guide this critical examination: (a) To what extent does a holistic relational conception, in contrast with an atomistic conception, fit or not fit with the lifeworld of diasporic refugees? (b) Where there might be fit, how does a holistic relationality disclose and illuminate refugees’ experience and understanding of agency, hope, and well-being appreciatively and resonantly? Through thematic and hermeneutic analysis of interview transcripts and iterative dialog among researchers and participants, the present study examined and disclosed holistic relational themes and patterns that shed light on ways in which refugees actualize possibilities within precarious conditions and also illuminated theoretical, methodological, temporal, and ethical constraints at play in the refugee/researcher life space. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)