Refugees are often depicted as helpless children, but what if that image itself stems from a colonial legacy?
Researcher Yafa El Masri, who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, saw firsthand how images shape understanding. Photographs usually show children in states of vulnerability not because that’s all they are, but because Western media and aid systems tend to favor those narratives. This framing, she says, casts refugees solely as victims and denies them agency. 

But what if refugees were the ones telling their own stories, instead of researchers, aid workers or journalists deciding which stories get told?

Subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@francessmarlo

Follow me:

- Instagram: @francessmarlo

- TikTok: @francessmarlo

- X (Twitter): @francessmarlo

- Substack: Francesca Maria Lorenzini / @francessmarlo