Bea Mariam Killguss

About

Bea Mariam Killguss

Availability: Available
NSPC Roles: Teaching and Research Supervision
 

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.