Abstract:

This paper studies the representational constructions of the image of Syrian refugee in newspaper photographs and discusses the processes in which the Syrian refugee is victimized, stereotyped and depoliticized through representation. It analyses Syrian refugee photographs published between 2011 and 2015 in five Turkish newspapers. Working within visual sociological and constructivist perspectives, and synthesizing content and visual analyses, the study first dwells upon the universal “ideal victim” profile mentioned in victimology studies, then reveals that the image of Syrian refugee is predominantly constructed as “victim” in the analyzed newspaper photographs. The study elaborates that refugees’ victimhood is represented through different themes of suffering, which appear around the themes of poverty, displacement, the need, and loss and pain. Then the victimization of the refugee is problematized and discussed under two main arguments. The first argument discusses that the prevalence of the victim discourse in Syrian refugee photographs is achieved through the technique of stereotyping, which reproduces the universal image of the refugee as weak and vulnerable, regardless of time and context. The second argument discusses that victimization works as a device for depoliticization, which imagines the refugee only as weak and powerless rather than a subject with political agency who produces action and results. The paper concludes that victimization and depoliticization produce a disparity between the lived experiences of the refugee (who has survived a war) and the representations of the refugee (who is a powerless war victim).  

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