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Abstract
In the growing literature on the visual representations of refugees used by international organisations, only a few studies have examined the representations used specifically to portray the experiences of resettled refugees in the global North. This study’s objective is to address that gap by analysing the use of specific images by UNHCR Canada to illustrate the resettlement of Syrian refugees in that country, in the context of the government’s initiative to resettle 25000 Syrian refugees between 2015 and 2016. Through a content analysis of the visual representations used online by UNHCR Canada, this study aims to explore the specificities of these representations. Results show that preference seems to be given to certain types of representations of refugees, such as images picturing one individual or a small group of easily identifiable persons, images of women and girls taking care of their families, children and infants, and so on. These tendencies in terms of representations may have various effects, including in fostering specific reactions (compassion, generosity, etc.) in viewers. They also serve to present a particular solution over others for the refugees depicted. The analysis aims to explore those tendencies in representation detected in the selected images and their potential effects on viewers.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The links between representations and emotions have been thoroughly explored elsewhere (see, for example, Bambrick Citation2016).
2 Syrian refugees have been resettled across the entire country. Although many of them have resettled around urban areas, many others have resettled in various rural areas across the country (Tyyskä et al. Citation2017). The fact that this research doesn’t focus on one area in particular is a limitation. Researchers may be interested in developing further analysis exploring differences in representations and variations from one region to another.
4 It needs to be emphasized that I am not a refugee (although not a Canadian), which brings some limitation to the depth of this research. Consequently, this research article is likely to reproduce some of the criticisms that it deals with in it. Recognizing my position and the possible consequences of it may be one step towards mitigating those consequences (Szörényi Citation2006, 26).
6 Ibid.
7 See for example (Tomsic Citation2017).
8 The topic of the feminization of refugees has been explored by other authors (see, for example, Bambrick Citation2016).
9 See for example (Fehrenbach and Rodogno Citation2015b).
11 The section was previously named ‘Newsroom’.
13 Although it is called the 2015–2016 Syrian refugee initiative, resettlement extends over several years after the arrival in the country. In this perspective, UNHCR online articles until 2019 have been taken into consideration. By the time of the publication of the article, several articles selected, although initially published earlier, were re-published later (example of the article ‘A Syrian refugee returns to entrepreneurial roots in Canada’ initially published in February 2019 and then republished in October 2020).
15 The © is not always present.
16 Five images had no information about copyright and credit.
17 On her website, it is explained that Annie Sakkab is ‘A Palestinian-Canadian, born and raised in Jordan, freelance photojournalist and filmmaker (…) based in the Middle East and Canada’. See https://www.anniesakkab.com/bio_contact.
18 https://www.unhcr.ca/news/through-the-eyes-of-a-refugee/; The work of Hany Al Moulia is explored in Phu (Citation2018).
19 I acknowledge sex and gender to be social constructions and the impossibility of determining how a person identifies only by looking at them. I refer here to sexed and gendered stereotypes of how human beings are expected to appear and perform in Western societies.
20 Regarding the (physical) age of the subjects, I used the same definitions as Clark-Kazak in her article Representing Refugees in the Life Cycle (Citation2009, 305). In this article, the author defines an infant as someone in the early stages of development, a child as someone who has not reached puberty yet, a young person as someone who has passed puberty but is still developing physically, an adult as someone who is not developing physically anymore, and finally, an elder as someone in the later stages of life.
21 Reflections on the importance of the captions are offered below.
22 For the three remaining photographs, it was not possible to detect the interactions with certainty.
23 UNHCR. Syria emergency. Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/syria-emergency.html.
24 Ibid.
25 More information on the number of refugees per category and welcoming communities across Canada is available on: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/welcome-syrian-refugees/key-figures.html#popup2.
26 In the images analysed, women and girls are often represented taking care of their families and preparing food. Men and boys, on the other hand, are more often represented as working and playing sports.
27 See for example (Tomsic Citation2017).
28 See for example (VanderWallen Citation2012).
29 See, for example, https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/7-art-initiatives-that-are-transforming-the-lives-of-refugees/ (cited by Sheehan Citation2018, 13). Sheehan also refers to the Exile Voices: https://maptia.com/reza/stories/exile-voices.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Charlotte Dahin
Charlotte Dahin has a background in Law (BA, MA, LL.M) and is now pursuing a PhD at the Institute of Feminist and Gender studies at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on the refugee status determination process, the decisions refugee claimants take regarding the legal and procedural aspects of their case, and their relations with lawyers. Charlotte also works as a teaching and research assistant at the University of Ottawa, the Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles (Belgium) and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium). Her most recent article “On fait du travail social en fait”: Perceptions de leur rôle par les avocat-e-s dans le cadre du processus de détermination du statut de réfugié » has been published in the Canadian Journal of Law & Society.