Abstract

This article adopts the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach to explore the phenomenon of cognitive immobility, where individuals remain cognitively trapped in experiences or locations despite elapsed time and physical distance from those events and places. It explores how (im)mobility and life transitions hold people in the past. The study focuses on the cognitive experiences of Mrs Eve, an African-American woman who on her first visit to Dakar, Senegal, felt a deep, unexplained connection to the place. The article triangulates Mrs Eve’s experiences against those shared by other individuals in previously published peer-reviewed narratives to reveal how (im)mobility and life transitions can lead to cognitive immobility. It underscores that traumatic or memorable life experiences can result in cognitive immobility under certain circumstances and thus enriches the discourse on people who are cognitively trapped in their past.

Key Takeaways:

Cognitive Immobility is a condition that affects people from all backgrounds. It is a mental entrapment in the past. It can be cause be life transitions and mobility. Those who leave their homelands could be easily affected. Those who have it exhibited:

1. Persistent longing for a homeland or a place visited.
2. Difficulty embracing the present environment or life situation.
3. A disrupted sense of identity or home.

There are currently three key features of cognitive Immobility:

1. Persistent re-experience and reconstruction of past events or life experiences.
2. Mental immobilisation to the past.
3. Disrupted sense of identity and home

If untreated it could lead to:

Emotional Distress: anger, despair, severe sense of loss, depression, psychosis.

‘Using the framework of cognitive immobility to study the experiences of those who have relocated provides the analytical tools to comprehend better people’s cognitive experiences that relate to the past. By processing and understanding their past, we are empowered to support them in the present and better prepare them for the future. The crucial factor is their capacity to live in the present without being ensnared by past locations or life experiences.’

Citation:

Olumba E. E., Gola, A., & Mfon, L. E. (2024). Trapped in Time and Place: Cognitive Immobility among Diaspora Communities. Diaspora Studies (published online ahead of print 2024).