Book launch for ‘Syria: The Making and Unmaking of a Refuge State’
The dispossession and forced migration of nearly 50% of Syria’s population has produced the greatest refugee crisis since World War II. ‘Syria: The Making and Unmaking of a Refuge State’ (Hurst Publishers) places the current displacement within the context of the widespread migrations that have indelibly marked the region throughout the last 150 years. Syria itself has harboured millions from its neighbouring lands, and Syrian society has been shaped by these diasporas. Dawn Chatty explores how modern Syria came to be a refuge state, focusing first on the major forced migrations into Syria of Circassians, Armenians, Kurds, Palestinians, and Iraqis. Drawing heavily on individual narratives and stories of integration, adaptation, and compromise, she shows that a local cosmopolitanism came to be seen as intrinsic to Syrian society. She examines the current outflow of people from Syria to neighbouring states as individuals and families seek survival with dignity, arguing that though the future remains uncertain, the resilience and strength of Syrian society both displaced internally within Syria and externally across borders bodes well for successful return and reintegration. If there is any hope to be found in the Syrian civil war, it is in this history.
Date: 2 May 2018, 17:00 (Wednesday, 2nd week, Trinity 2018)
Venue: Queen Elizabeth House, 3 Mansfield Road OX1 3TB
Venue Details: Seminar Room 3
Speaker: Professor Dawn Chatty (University of Oxford)
Organising department: Refugee Studies Centre
Organiser contact email address: tamsin.kelk@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Refugee Studies Centre Public Seminar Series
Topics:
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Tamsin Kelk