Beyond Victimhood, Expanding Narratives: A Generative Inquiry with Trafficking Survivors

Authors

• Giacomo Chiara, University of Naples Federico II, ItalyFollow
• Celiane Camargo-Borges, Breda University of Applied Sciences, The NetherlandsFollow
• Diego Romaioli, University of Padua, ItalyFollow
• Alberta Contarello, University of Padua, ItalyFollow

Abstract

This study is a generative inquiry with survivors of trafficking from a social constructionist perspective. Inspired by the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, its focus is collaboration between researchers and trafficking survivors with a view to shaping and understanding their trafficking experiences together, expanding understanding of the topic and co-constructing a relational space in which counter-narratives on victimhood can be generated. It consisted of 10 interviews with women survivors of trafficking at the Italian Anti-Trafficking System. These women were from a range of nations and their experiences of exploitation varied. Taking a constructionist approach to research, we formulated an episodic-generative interview made up of circular and reflexive questions inspired by the Post Traumatic Growth Inventory. The research questions are as follows: How can we collaboratively create counter-narratives that challenge the narrative of victimization? What themes promote the co-construction of transformative narratives in survivors of trafficking? Reflexive thematic analysis was then performed on the textual material gathered, which generated five themes: resources/strengths, relationships, future, helpful aspects, and momentary feelings. Overall, this study suggests that through a generative methodology, it is possible to collaboratively co-generate counter-narratives oriented towards personal strength, dreams, and the future. This approach could represent an important inquiry scenario for both clinical and psychosocial inquiry with survivors of trafficking and refugees in general. Grounded in a social constructionist perspective, this inquiry sheds light on the way a theoretical-methodological framework can amplify voice diversity and offer a more nuanced understanding of what it means to be a survivor of trafficking, thereby opening new opportunities for action.

Keywords

trafficking survivors, reflexivity, generative inquiry, social construction, future-forming

Author Bio(s)

Giacomo Chiara, Ph.D., is a Psychotherapist and Research Fellow at the University of Naples Federico II (Italy) and is an associate member of the Taos Institute. His work is grounded in a social constructionist perspective. His research explores narrative, dialogical and relational processes in contexts of vulnerability, including migration, trafficking, mental health, and the multiplicity of the self in psychotherapy, through qualitative and generative inquiry. He has developed research on collaborative writing and generative inquiry as relational practices across clinical and social settings.

Celiane Camargo-Borges, Ph.D., is a social psychologist working with relational and design approaches to foster transformative learning and future-forming practices. She is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at Breda University of Applied Sciences (the Netherlands) and a member of the Sustainability Transitions research group. She is also an associate of the Taos Institute and international faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies.  

Diego Romaioli, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Social Psychology at the FISPPA Department (University of Padua), where he directs the Master’s programmes in Transformative Dialogue and Contemplative Studies. A psychotherapist at the SCUP clinic and an associate member of the Taos Institute, his research advances social constructionist and relational perspectives through qualitative, generative, and mixed-methods inquiry. His work focuses on the deconstruction of ageism, prosocial behavior, counter-narratives to medicalized distress, constructionist interpretations of motivated irrationalities (e.g., akrasia), and the multiplicity of the self in psychotherapy.  

Alberta Contarello is Honorary Professor, Social Psychologist, at the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Italy, and is an associate member of the Taos Institute. Her main fields of interest regard social representations and meaning-making processes, qualitative methods in social psychology, and social psychology and literature.

Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: giacomo.chiara@unipd.it

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the participants in the research.

Publication Date

4-27-2026

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Recommended APA Citation

Chiara, G., Camargo-Borges, C., Romaioli, D., & Contarello, A. (2026). Beyond victimhood, expanding narratives: A generative inquiry with trafficking survivors. The Qualitative Report, 31(4), 5640-5661. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2026.8148

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4635-0084