Children express: war and peace themes in the drawings of Iraqi refugee children in Jordan

Abstract The current study focuses on data collected from Iraqi refugee children in Jordan who fled the Islamic State Group (IS) after capturing the city of Qaraqosh overnight in 2014. 16 children, 9 males and 7 females between the ages of (4–12) participated in the study. Two major themes were identified from the qualitative analysis of children’s peace drawings and their verbal statements: ‘peace as religion, contentment and serenity’ and peace as a negative space, while two other common themes were identified in the children’s war drawings: ‘war as activity and conflict; and death, as, a result, of war’. Findings indicate that developmental differences between children were evident via their drawings and their knowledge of peace and war, confirming that children’s understanding of war precedes their understanding of peace