One of the most powerful images that reflect the tragedy of the Syrian refugee crisis is the death of Alan Kurdi from Syria, who lays facedown, dead on a Turkish beach after drowning during his journey to Greece from Turkey. (1) The rubber boat that the smugglers had provided for the family’s travel tipped after being hit by high waves, and the result was fatal for the two little sons in the family. (2) President Barak Obama used this powerful image during his speech to the General Assembly in 2016, showing how refugees “are at the mercy of criminals who pack them into trucks or makeshift rafts, and who die on treacherous seas — like little Alan Kurdi from Syria, lifeless, face down on a Turkish beach, in his red shirt and blue pants” (2). However, while Obama may have deployed this image as a way to remind countries of refugee travel challenges, the image had also been used to criticize President Obama for his negligence of the refugee crisis. (4) The gruesome picture provokes empathy for the situation of refugees. In fact, President Obama eventually refers to the refugees as “victims,” constructing an identity for refugees who are without agency and countries, or leaders in the case of the criticism, must step up and help them. (5) The tragic images to build sympathy as well as relatability for the refugees to recognize their struggle. Through reading news articles and speeches, I have noticed that a typical reputation of Syrian refugees is as victims that need care. The vivid images highlighted by Obama and other leaders create a discourse of tragedy and identify the refugees as helpless. To find multiple truths as well as identify how countries classify themselves when it comes to integrating refugees, I would like to analyze Western leaders’ use of tragic images in the international community, to discuss how they characterize refugees and its translation to their policy, in the context of the Syrian civil war. Ultimately, I would like to understand the intertextuality of the tragic images and political speeches to see how leaders pursue integration policy towards Syrian refugees.
(1) Barnard, Anne and Karam Shoumali. “Image of Drowned Syrian, Aylan Kurdi, 3, Brings Migrant Crisis Into Focus.” The New York Times (September 2015): https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/world/europe/syria-boy-drowning.html
(2) Ebid.
(3) Obama, Barack. “Remarks by Presedent Obama at Leaders Summit on Refugees.” Presentation at the Leaders Summit on Refugees at the United Nations, New York, NY, September 20, 2016.
(4) “Shame on us all for the death of Aylan Kurdi.” Daily News (September 2015): http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/editorial-shame-death-aylan-kurdi-article-1.2349539
(5) Obama, Barack. “Remarks by Presedent Obama at Leaders Summit on Refugees.” Presentation at the Leaders Summit on Refugees at the United Nations, New York, NY, September 20, 2016.
November 30, 2017 at 1:51 pm
A very good start, Gwen, and using these images as some of the texts that you analyze is perfectly fine. Make sure to keep the focus on the specific meanings and identities that you want to understand, though, (not just on the use of a particular form of text) so that in turn you will be able to propose a way to investigate how these meanings or representations *of* something/someone (here, I presume it is the different ways in which refugees are represented within Western elite/official discourse?). What texts beyond the images might you have to examine in order to understand the ways in which those images are deployed and discussed?