The continuous and inextricable interaction between gender and humanitarian technology as a site of production of vulnerability : The case of UNHCR´s assessment framework in Jordan

Abstract: The present thesis attempted to address a significant gap in both academic and humanitarian literature concerning the significance of humanitarian data for the construction of vulnerable identities as stereotypically gendered. This thesis inquired humanitarian datafication as a new site of production of vulnerability, with specific mechanisms such as automatization of gendered bias, opacity of processes, multiplication of effects as well as elements of surveillance and consequent conscious self-performances. The background and theoretical chapters underlined how humanitarian vulnerability, which has been historically regulated through a group approach identifying women as the quintessentially vulnerable category, has been increasingly managed through a framework of digital governance. In order to assess the initial proposition, the thesis conducted an in-depth documentation analysis of the case of UNHCR’s Vulnerability Assessment Framework (VAF), investigating its activities since 2014. The analysis and discussion of empirical results seemed to predominantly confirm the initial suggested conceptual themes but also to suggest possible new specificities of the phenomenon.Empirical results showcased a partial connection between women as a group and vulnerability,but they especially highlighted an obscuration of male gendered vulnerabilities and needs, effectively constructing refugee manhood as predominantly self reliant.