Bea Mariam Killguss

About

Bea Mariam Killguss

Availability: Available
NSPC Roles: Teaching and Research Supervision

Modules: Social/Cultural/Ethical Isssues, Philosophical and Religious Worldviews, Conflict and Reconciliation, Theories of Change, Development through the Lifespan.

Research and Supervision

My research expertise lies at the intersection of Existential Philosophy, Psychotherapy, and Critical Diversity Studies, with a specific focus on diversity, racism, migration, uprootedness, and transracial adoption. I exclusively supervise research using an Auto-ethnographic methodology, emphasising personal narrative to critically explore cultural beliefs, social structures, and systemic practices.

Auto-ethnography forms the foundation of both my research and supervision. This approach involves:

• Narrative Inquiry: Using personal experiences to explore and critique cultural phenomena, recognising the intricate relationship between the self and broader societal constructs.
• Reflexive Engagement: Encouraging a rigorous self-examination of one’s identity and positionality, highlighting the connection between the personal and political.
• Relational Focus: Acknowledging the impact of interpersonal relationships on the research process, enabling deeper exploration of existential questions and identity formation.
• Creative Rigor: Combining intellectual depth with emotional authenticity to present lived experiences with vulnerability and insight.
• Social Justice Advocacy: Illuminating marginalised narratives to foster a deeper understanding of structural inequities, contributing to societal change.

Research Interests

My pursuits focus on auto-ethnographic inquiry across various psychosocial phenomena, including:

• Family Dynamics and Identity in Adoption: Investigating kinship, racism, and cultural dynamics in the context of adoption, with an emphasis on transracial adoptee experiences.
• Cultural Psychiatry: Exploring cultural influences on mental health conditions, such as anxiety and boarding school syndrome, through the lens of personal lived experiences.
• Multicultural Identity: Examining the psychological dimensions of multilingual, multicultural, and multi-religious upbringing in culturally diverse settings.
• Complex Trauma: Assessing the long-term mental health consequences of childhood neglect, religious abuse, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) from a personal and reflective perspective.
• Racism and Micro-aggressions: Critically examining the psychological impacts of racism and micro-aggressions, employing a self-reflective, auto-ethnographic approach.
• Humanitarian Work and Resilience: Evaluating the mental well-being and resilience of individuals, particularly adult children of humanitarian workers, within hazardous environments.

Languages

• English (Native)
• German (Native)
• French (Advanced)
• Urdu (Advanced)
• Hindi (Advanced)

Publications and Conference Papers

• Identity and the Need to Belong: Understanding Identity Formation and Place in the Lives of Global Nomads(Illness Crisis & Loss, 2008, 16(2):137-151, DOI:10.2190/IL.16.2.d)
• Subverting Identity: An Auto-ethnographic Critical Analysis of Contemporary Politics of Culture and Belonging as a Transracial Adoptee (Chapter /Publication pending, 2025)
• Conference Paper:
  Autoethnographic Reflections on Racial Identity: Transracial Adoption, Cosmopolitanism, and Hybridity - Presented at RAI Conference 2024. This paper explores the transracial adoptee's journey through the lens of auto-ethnography, focusing on culture, race, and racism. Employing reflective writing and self-directed interviews, it navigates the formation of a cohesive self-identity amid competing cultural influences, enriching our understanding of human development within a cosmopolitan framework.