Clark, Christina2011-02-012011-02-012007Christina Clark, "Understanding Vulnerability: From Categories to Experiences of Congolese Young People in Uganda," Children & Society 21.4 (2007): 284-296.http://hdl.handle.net/10315/6663This article problematises the 'vulnerables' category that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees applies to groups of refugees. Drawing on 9 months' qualitative research with young Congolese refugees in Uganda, it presents research subjects' self-identification and lived realities that do not correspond to the homogenous, fixed 'vulnerables' ideal. Moreover, it argues that the 'vulnerables' categorisation approach can provoke a number of counter-productive effects, including a focus on symptoms rather than causes, inflated numbers of 'vulnerables' and undermining indigenous support structures. An alternative approach that interrogates and addresses the contextual and relational aspects of vulnerability is proposed.enThis article was published in Children & Society by Wiley-Blackwell (on behalf of the National Children's Bureau). The definitive version is available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.comArticlehttp://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0951-0605http://ca.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/index.htmlhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2007.00100.x/abstract