The Syrian uprising, beginning in 2011, altered the region’s political, social, and ideological landscape. While the fall of the Assad regime marks the end of one era, Syria’s future remains uncertain and fraught with challenges.
Description
The Syrian uprising, beginning in 2011, altered the region’s political, social, and ideological landscape. While the fall of the Assad regime marks the end of one era, Syria’s future remains uncertain and fraught with challenges. The rise of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), now a key player in the country’s governance, further shifts the sectarian and regional’s power dynamics. With HTS formerly entangled with ISIS it remains unclear whether the country is moving toward a more peaceful post-Assad era or into another period of ideological divisions and regional instability. How do these changes reflect the country’s past, and what might they tell us about Syria’s future trajectory in a rapidly evolving geopolitical terrain? What does the shift in power dynamics mean for Syria and its neighbors? This event revisits the Syrian revolution through three distinct presentations.
This event is organized by PoHis - Power in History
Program
Burak Sayım, a MSCA-YUFE postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Political History at the University of Antwerp, will provide a historical overview of the political trajectory of Syria. He will discuss the background of the Assad family’s rule by tracing anti-colonial politics in Syria and the Middle East, to explore the origins of the Baath party before the dictatorship. His current book project, The Making of Communism in the Middle East: Anticolonial Revolutions, Global Networks and Itinerant Militants, is under contract with the University of California Press.
Anna Rajkowska, a PhD researcher in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute and a visiting researcher at the University of Antwerp, will explore the mobilization and militant trajectories of jihadi women who joined Islamic State-occupied territories in Syria, with a particular focus on female militants from Turkey. She will analyze how lax border controls between Turkey and Syria facilitated the movement of jihadis and resources and what they reveal about the region’s shifting ideological dynamics. Her PhD, near completion, examines the militant trajectories of Turkish jihadi women before, during, and after IS, drawing on over 150 cases gathered through fieldwork in Turkey, Jordan, and Tunisia, including interviews, court files, and analysis of jihadist and Islamist publications.
Roschanack Shaery-Yazdi, Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Antwerp, will examine yet another geopolitical aspect of the revolution context, with her presentation on the Syrian military occupation of Lebanon, addressing the methodological challenges posed by the lack of comprehensive archival materials. She will explore the strategies employed to map key aspects of this occupation, including the types of documents published by the opposition and why these documents were considered inauthentic. Professor Shaery will consider how a new Syrian government might declassify records, offering the potential for a more complete historical account. Her book Caring Violence. Syrian Authoritarianism and Enforced Disappearances in Lebanon (1976-2005) is currently under review.
Each panelist will have about 25 minutes for their presentation, followed by a discussion session. We look forward to a stimulating and thought-provoking conversation on these pressing issues.
