About

Ezenwa Olumba, Ph.D., is an expert in (im)mobility, memory, and identity. He is currently a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Department of Society & Politics, Aston University, in Birmingham, UK, and is leading a project that examines how adolescent asylum seekers and refugees in the United Kingdom process their past migratory experiences and trauma using the lens of the cognitive immobility framework. Olumba introduced the concepts of cognitive Immobility and aerial colonialism and the resilience & accessibility framework. His academic work has appeared in journals including the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Migration Studies, Culture & Psychology, Third World Quarterly, Critical Studies on Terrorism, African Security Review, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology.

Recent Posts
When the Mind Doesn’t Return From War
Often, leaving the battlefield does not mean leaving the war behind. Many ex-soldiers continue to struggle even after receiving PTSD treatment—suggesting that PTSD may not fully explain what's keeping them trapped.
When the War Comes Home
Some veterans return home physically but remain psychologically anchored to war. Cognitive immobility explains how combat can shape life long after the battlefield is left behind.
What Keeps Us Connected to the Dead?

Why would someone visit a childhood friend’s grave regularly for 70 years? The answer offers a powerful lesson about loss, memory and remembrance.

Why would someone visit a childhood friend’s grave regularly for 70 years? The answer offers a powerful lesson about loss, memory and remembrance.

Why Some Places Never Leave Us

Why do some places or experiences feel impossible to leave behind? Memory, longing, and cognitive immobility can shape where we feel most at home.

Why do some places or experiences feel impossible to leave behind? Memory, longing, and cognitive immobility can shape where we feel most at home.

Strange New Wounds in US Soldiers Who Never Saw Carnage

Trauma is not always shaped by what people see firsthand but by what they imagine and remember long after the event.

Trauma is not always shaped by what people see firsthand but by what they imagine and remember long after the event.

When the Life You Escaped Becomes the Life You Miss

You leave in search of something better, yet the past starts calling louder than the present. This is why we sometimes miss the lives we once rejected.

You leave in search of something better, yet the past starts calling louder than the present. This is why we sometimes miss the lives we once rejected.

The Body May Escape, but the Mind Often Can’t

Even after fleeing a war, the mind can remain trapped. True healing means freeing both body and mind.

Even after fleeing a war, the mind can remain trapped. True healing means freeing both body and mind.

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September 2026 magazine cover
September 2026
The Power of Enough

We’re all holding onto something we’re sure we can’t give up on, but research shows that letting go can boost our happiness a lot more than we might think.

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Self Tests are all about you. Are you outgoing or introverted? Are you a narcissist? Does perfectionism hold you back? Find out the answers to these questions and more with Psychology Today.

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