War in Syria through Children’s Drawings

Mohammed Al-Sadoun, United Arab Emirates, ID LLCE2016-270;      War in Syria has caused the displacement of millions of people, half of them children.  Children who are often unable to understand the complexities and the continuation of this terrible war, find in drawing as an effective form of expression.   Children under such conditions draw to say something or to escape from a tragic reality.  The main purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent war has an emotional and psychological effects on Syrian children as revealed in their drawings.  Syrian children refugees usually draw scenes of war based on real events they have experienced. This explains why they draw scenes of fighting, death and lethal weapons such as military aircraft, tanks, guns and more. In fact their drawings look very realistic representation of war events.  This can be a challenge to the notion that children draw what they know instead of what they see (Willats, 1997).  But if drawing is considered a means of expression, therefore it is a language that children use to express themselves. In another words children’s drawings "speak louder than words.” as de Jager argues (2012). The findings are useful to identify violations and war crimes committed against children.  

Keywords: emotion, refuges, war, anxiety, fear, color, signs, violence, refuges, psychological