The Syrian Civil War has been deemed one of the worst humanitarian crises of the twentyfirst century. Since 2011 a large-scale number of Syrian civilians have been displaced and have been forced to seek protection and humanitarian assistance in neighbouring countries. Unprecedented political, social, and economic conditions in Syria have undermined all aspects of human security for the Syrian population. Syrian children, in particular, have been adversely affected as a result of this conflict. Displaced from their homes, and often separated from their families, children are especially vulnerable. With a focus on the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan serving as a host nation for Syrian refugees, this study critically examines one significantly under-reported aspect of violence affecting Syrian refugee children, in particular girls, that has been occurring exponentially since the onset of the Syrian Crisis, that of the practice of forced child marriage in Jordan. By examining international human rights laws and contextualising human rights laws and discourses in relation to Middle Eastern, Islamic and Jordanian understandings of international law and human rights, the aim of this thesis is to critically understand how the practice of child marriage not only continues, globally as well as in the Middle East, but appears to be proliferating. These areas of inquiry are critically examined in relation to conceptualisations of childhood vulnerability, particularly structural and institutional factors, including culture, religion and power relations between adults and children, as each act to subordinate voiceless refugee children.

This thesis finds that in a juxtaposition of human rights definitions and obligations, between the traditional and modern, the religious and the secular, there are mixed implications for the realisation of universal human rights and that this has consequences for the most vulnerable - child refugees. As a result, Syrian children exist in a precarious situation. They are living in a foreign state with an unclear legal status, are largely unidentified and, in effect, stateless. It is in this liminal space that Syrian children are vulnerable and voiceless and highly exposed to forced marriages and the resultant violence and possibly death. While allowed to continue, the practice of child marriage not only severely impedes upon progressive international human rights efforts to eliminate gender-based violence, slavery and discrimination, but significantly impacts on children's physical, mental and emotional health, and their opportunities for growth and development in society.

Peacekeeping is regarded by the United Nations (UN) as integral tool for international peace and security in which peacekeepers are sent to conflict-torn countries to help them navigate and rebuild their society to one of peace and stability. It operates within unique spaces of duality, both physically and discursively, wherein notions of 'peace' interacts with 'conflict'. The body of the peacekeeper may also be seen as a complex, albeit contradictory, figure of duality, in which notions of militarised masculinity are appropriated into 'soldiers for peace'. Concerningly, allegations continue to be reported of UN peacekeepers engaging in behavioural misconduct and human rights violations during missions, most notably, sexual exploitation and abuse against host-peacekeeping women and children. The dominant explanation for this issue is gender inequality. Previous studies examining this issue from a 'bottom-up' perspective have primarily focused on micro factors at either the individual or mission level, such as 'militarised masculinities' and 'hypermasculinity' that cause destructive normative behaviours among peacekeepers against vulnerable identities. Feminist studies also tend to point to UN strategies such as 'gender mainstreaming' as a solution to overcoming and preventing sexual exploitation and abuse through the equal representation and contribution of men and women in peacekeeping. While these factors are plausible, they largely neglect a macro-institutional examination of why sexual exploitation and abuse continues to be prevalent in peacekeeping missions worldwide. This study contributes to current knowledge by using empirical interview data to examine the UN's organisational and institutional power structures through a critical power elite framework. Findings reveal that sexual and gender-based violence at the micro peacekeeping mission level occur because of discrepancies at the macro systemic (institutional) and systematic (organisational)-level of UN peacekeeping. This study significantly demonstrates a discrepancy between discourse and action within UN peacekeeping due to unequal elite power dynamics.

This thesis asks why contemporary women choose to wear nostalgic 1950s style clothing. To answer this question, it uses a material culture framework, which puts the object, in this case, 1950s style clothing, at the centre of the research. Material culture approaches to studying clothing and style are relatively underused in the field and as such there are limited theoretical frameworks for researchers to use. This thesis makes a contribution to the field by presenting a theoretical framework that can be replicated in future research. In adopting a material culture framework, this these first asks, what does the object have to say about the culture that uses it? This is achieved through an object analysis of the clothes. This analysis found that the clothes embed a different conception of female identity from today’s contemporary clothes. This identity is not, however, a mere reflection of 1950s social culture, but an iteration of contemporary female identity that both challenges and sits alongside the mediated ideal of female bodies and personhood. Following on from the object study, this thesis then examines what the culture has to say about the clothes they wear. It uses an interpretative paradigm to inform a multi-method approach. Data was collected through two sets of ethnographic interviews, an immersion study and an international survey.

The research examines the wearing of a historic clothing style in a wider social context and represents a shift away from looking at alternate dressing in a narrow subcultural context. Twenty-seven women were interviewed to gain insights into their understanding and use of nostalgic 1950s style clothing. The women also provided photographs of their clothes so that the object was ‘present’ in the interview, providing context for their answers. The women revealed that they were looking for clothing that represents them both physically and psychologically. To clarify which of the themes that arose from the interviews were gender-bound, three men were interviewed from which a comparison could be made. The men revealed a less complex nostalgic relationship to the 1950s than the women did. Men did not have to negotiate the retrograde gender roles of the actual 1950s in the way women did. Sitting alongside these interviews is an immersion study. Material culture approaches call for the researcher to interact with the object, and thus the researcher wore and used the clothes in the manner of the participants. An international survey was conducted investigating how home-sewers use their craft to access 1950s style clothing, finding admiration for previous sewing techniques sat alongside a desire to control quality and fit in clothing. The thesis finds that there are multiple understandings of what nostalgic 1950s clothing represents, revealing a rich dialogue between the clothes and the culture that wears them.