Conveying the Problem(s) and Representing Personhood

Abstract

Chapter 8 explores the international community’s responses to these hierarchies of personhood by considering how violated rights to place and purpose have been communicated and interpreted. Drawing on concepts such as issue emergence, visual narratives, and framing, this chapter assesses the ways that human rights concerns are represented. This assessment is useful for better understanding the ways in which vulnerabilities to human rights abuse are constructed and translated for media consumption, fundraising initiatives, and public advocacy campaigns. At the same time, this analysis also highlights how the problems stemming from lack of functioning citizenship receive vastly different responses depending on political circumstances—including how they align with the hierarchies of personhood that operate at local, state, and international levels. Ultimately, this chapter argues that we must reevaluate the ways that we see problems related to lack of functioning citizenship, which includes facilitating the empowerment and representation of vulnerable communities.