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Journal of Refugee Studies Advance Access originally published online on July 29, 2009
Journal of Refugee Studies 2009 22(3):302-322; doi:10.1093/jrs/fep012
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© The Author [2009]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

This article appears in the following Journal of Refugee Studies issue: Special Issue: Representation and Displacement [View the issue table of contents]

Representing Refugees in the Life Cycle: A Social Age Analysis of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Annual Reports and Appeals 1999–2008

Christina Clark-Kazak

International Studies Department, Glendon College, York University, 2275 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4N 3M6

cclark-kazak{at}glendon.yorku.ca; crclark3{at}yahoo.ca

This paper provides a longitudinal quantitative and qualitative analysis of textual and visual references to age in UNHCR's annual appeals and reports published from 1999 to 2008. In contrast to an assumed over-representation of children in refugee imagery, this study reveals that adults are present in the greatest number of photographs across the time period studied. However, children, particularly girls, are mentioned much more frequently than adults in the texts, primarily in reference to ‘vulnerability’ and protection, education and health. Indeed, efforts towards gender- and age-sensitivity have instead reinforced a discourse that presents ‘women, children and the elderly’ as problematic ‘vulnerable’ groups and overlooks the complex power relations of gender and social age. The article concludes with some recommendations for re-presenting refugees.

Key Words: UNHCR • refugee representation • social age analysis

MS received October 1, 2008 ; revised MS received January 1, 2009
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