“Visible, Vilified, and Voiceless”: Media, Discrimination, Education, and Employment in the Resettlement Experiences of South Sudanese Refugees in Australia (2000–2010)

This article draws on an ethnographic case study to examine how Australian news media shape the resettlement experiences of South Sudanese refugees who arrived in Australia between 2000 and 2010. Using semi-structured interviews with 18 South Sudanese refugees, autoethnographic narratives, and secondary document analysis — including media articles, service provider reports, and government policy documents — the study investigates how media representations intersected with and compounded experiences of discrimination, barriers to education, and employment exclusion. Informed by Bourdieu’s (1986) theory of social capital, New Literacy Studies’ framing of literacy as social practice (Street, 1995, 2003), and postcolonial theory (Said, 1978; Fanon, 1952), the findings reveal that deficit-laden and sensationalized media portrayals of South Sudanese refugees contributed directly to racism in educational institutions and workplaces, undermined refugees’ social capital, and reinforced systemic barriers to settlement. The article argues that media representations do not merely reflect social attitudes but actively construct and entrench discriminatory conditions that impede the resettlement of racialised refugee communities. Implications for media ethics, refugee policy, and education practice are discussed.