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Logics of Protection and the Discursive Construction of Refugee Fathers
- For policymakers
- Summary created: 2021
Gendered images of refugees contribute to how we understand who is deserving of protection and who is not.
In this chapter I turn my feminist curiosity towards a shift in media coverage of the migration, or refugee ‘crisis’ away from ‘womenandchildren’ (Enloe 1992) and towards ‘refugee fathers’.
Through an intersectional approach I explore images of refugee fathers. This chapter contributes to existing work that has linked responsible parenting to deserving refugee-ness.
Insights
Based on my analysis, my findings suggest that ‘Middle Eastern’ men can only be rendered intelligible as deserving of protection in relation to their children and families.
This construction reinforces not only essentialist hierarchies of masculinity and femininity, but hierarchical constructions of masculinities, organised by and through logics of race and sexuality.
Linked to the logic of ‘deserving’ and ‘authentic’ refugee fathers is the construction of single, refugee men as dangerous and/or lacking courage and therefore not deserving of protection.
What it means
In other words, the construction of refugee fathers also leaves undisturbed the logics that inform the construction of single refugee men as threatening and/or cowardly. Non paternal refugee men are then rendered underserving of refugee protection. The consequence of this is that authentic refugee-ness can only be read onto the bodies of refugee men through the logic of paternal protection and responsibility. In other words, fatherhood constructs genuine refugee men through logics of paternity, responsibility and bravery.
Very relevant for refugee protection in the EU and Australia.
Suggested next steps
Reflect on the images used for advocacy campaigns
Critically think about gender in relation to refugee protection
Contribute to challenging assumptions around gender, race and class
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