WORKSHOP

 

Syria: Religion in Revolution, War, and Displacement

French Institute for Anatolian Studies

Istanbul – Türkiye

5^th -7^th  March 2025

 

 

Much has already been written about the role of religion in the 2011 Arab uprising in general, and in the Syrian revolution in particular—religious slogans and the use of mosques in the early phases of the uprisings, or the subsequent rise of Islamist parties across the region have been extensively discussed (Boëx and Pinto, 2018; Aubin-Boltanski, 2022). Many authors have focused on the Syrian conflict’s sectarian dimension, that is, on politically relevant, mutually competitive religious identities. Theoretically sophisticated accounts have proposed useful correctives to the ethno-primordialist notion that the war was a mere resurgence of ‘ancient hatreds’. They rather emphasize the fact that the ‘sectarianization’ of the conflict resulted from complex interactions between existing social and political structures, on the one hand, and the warring parties’ strategies of mobilization, on the other hand (Satik, 2013; Phillips, 2015; Stolleis, 2015; Leenders, 2016; Pinto, 2017; Belhadj and Ruiz de Elvira, 2018; Hinnebusch, 2019; Mazur, 2021). Sectarianization is an important part of the context we aim to explore in this conference, but it does not constitute the focus of our reflection. Rather, we seek contributions that address the impact of the revolution, war, and mass displacement of the Syrian population, not on sectarian identities, but on religion per se, which is broadly understood here as a set of beliefs and practices within a given spiritual tradition. The latter’s transformations in post-2011 Syria shall be examined through three main perspectives, although we remain open to other relevant approaches.

 

1. Doctrines and practices

Sectarian polarization had a homogenizing effect on Syria’s religious communities, whose members were often forced to align with the dominant political stance among their coreligionists (besides the literature on sectarianization, see, for the Alawites, Ghanem, 2021). Failure to do so entailed swift punishment or marginalization, as was the case for the nuns of the convent of Saint Thecla in Maaloula (Poujeau, 2021). What is less well known, however, was the specifically religious impact of that process. Early in the war, analysts observed that the military dominance of Salafi and Salafi-Jihadi armed groups gave those brands of Islam a hegemonic status among Sunni communities living in rebel-held areas, a trend that culminated with the establishment of ISIS’ quasi-state in the eastern half of the country (International Crisis Group, 2012; Lund, 2013; Pierret, 2017). We know little, however, about the consequences of that hegemony on grassroots beliefs and practices, and about its legacy in regions where Jihadi governance was uprooted, like in formerly ISIS-held territories, or was forced to moderate, like in Idlib under the control of Hay’a Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). In the latter case, evidence shows that non-Salafi doctrines remained deeply entrenched among local communities, even forcing HTS to play down (though not to abandon) its ambitions to spread its own brand of Islam (Drevon and Haenni, 2021). Likewise, in Arab regions that were once controlled by ISIS, the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) has fostered the reassertion of Sufi leaders and brotherhoods (Pierret and Alrefaai, 2021). However, the extent of the following they managed to retain, or reconstitute, remains obscure.

One knows even less about corresponding dynamics among other religious communities. Before the war, it was widely assumed that the level of religious observance among Alawites and Druzes was low in comparison with Sunnis and Christians. To what extent did this situation change during the conflict? Another issue that needs in-depth exploration is the religious dimension of conversions to Shiism, a phenomenon that has been predominantly observed in regions of Syria that fell under the direct control of paramilitary groups aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (e.g., parts of the Lebanese border area, the Deir ez-Zor province, and the southern countryside of Aleppo) (Awad, 2019; Baker, 2023). Beyond the recruitment of formerly Sunni tribesmen into these paramilitary groups, what is the real extent of Shiite outreach among these communities?

2. The reconfigurations of religious authority

As a result of the conflict, Syrian religious leaders and groups have been faced with both opportunities to assert their authority, and challenges from political actors and religious newcomers. In the realm of official religious institutions, enormous change has taken place: in Idlib, the Turkish-controlled northern border areas, and DAANES, the religious field is now administered by institutions that were established after 2011 (Pierret and Alrefaai, 2021). These institutions emerged either as a result of top-down policies on the part of the respective powers that be, or due to bottom-up efforts among Muslim scholars—who were themselves divided between pre-existing networks, and new figures propped up by armed groups, the so-called shar’is (Cole, 2014; Heller, 2014). Even the Assad regime’s religious institutions have been extensively reconfigured in the meantime, most notably through the abolition of the Grand Muftiship in 2021 (Khatib, 2023; Pierret, 2024).

The conflict has also reinforced the transnational dimension of religious structures among the different communities, either by fostering cross-border sectarian solidarities (Smyth, 2015; Pierret, 2017; Ghanem 2021), or through the worldwide dispersion of Syrian religious leaders and communities. Recent publications show, for instance, that dreams (shared via instant messaging applications) have played a crucial role in the recreation of Alepine Sufi communities across the diaspora (Pinto, 2024), and that faith leaders have located themselves at the intersection between donors and implementers of aid among refugee communities in Lebanon (Carpi, 2023). Wartime circumstances have also created new opportunities, on both sides of the frontlines and in the diaspora, for religious charities of all denominations (Akdedian, 2021) and Sunni missionary movements such as Salafi NGOs, the female-only Qubaysiyyat, the Tabligh, and the anti-Salafi, Lebanon-based Ahbash (Pierret, 2018; Aubin-Boltanski, 2023). Comparable dynamics within other sects remain largely obscure. For instance, what does the role of Druze religious leaders in the ongoing Suwayda protests tells us about the transformation of their religious field over the last decade and a half?

3. Questioning faith, challenging religious norms?

Recent opinion polls suggest that religiosity has increased again in most Arab countries after a momentaneous drop in the late 2010s (Robbins, 2023). In Syria, the latter trend was echoed by anecdotal observations and a sense of alarm among some men of religion. Common explanations for this phenomenon included the trauma caused by the atrocities (and ultimate failure) of Jihadi groups, and the fact that because of their expatriation, particularly in Europe, some Syrians have moved to a social environment in which religious norms are less constraining. Serious research is sorely lacking to make sense of this ebb and flow of religiosity, and of its underlying factors. Moreover, religious skepticism remains worthy of being studied even if it remains marginal among Syrian communities, as illustrated by a stimulating reflection on unbelief in pre-revolutionary Egypt (Schielke, 2012). Besides outright atheism and abandonment of religious observance, we also seek contributions on other kinds of challenges to established religious norms, such as pragmatic lifestyle adaptation, anticlericalism and liberal interpretations of the Scriptures.

 

Proposals for papers should be sent in English to thomas.pierret@univ-amu.fr, Paulo Pinto philu99@gmail.com, anna.poujeau@cnrs.fr by 3^th February 2025 at the latest. Abstracts should not exceed 500 words and should be accompanied by a short presentation of the author.

Bibliography

Akdedian, Harout (2021) Stifling the Public Domain in Syria: Religion & State from Neo-Liberalism to State Atrophy. In Aziz al-Azmeh, Nadia Al-Bagdadi, Harout Akdedian and Harith Hassan (eds) Striking From the Margins: State, Religion and Devolution of Authority (Saqi Books): 91-117.

Aubin-Boltanski, Emma (2022) Contester l’omnipotence du leader, conjurer et susciter la peur. Les usages multiples de la formule Allâhu Akbar. In Lexique vivant de la révolution et de la guerre en Syrie (ANR Shakk), https://doi.org/10.21428/3633fae9.8d19805d.

——— (2023) A Mawlid al-Nabī under Close Surveillance Beirut, November 2019. In Nelly Amri, Rachida Chih and Stefan Reichsmuth (eds.) The Presence of the Prophet in Early Modern and Contemporary Islam (Brill).

Awad, Ziad (2019) Iran in Deir ez-Zor: Strategy, Expansion, and Opportunities (Middle East Directions, Research Project Report 21).

Baker, Rauf (2023) Tehran’s Shiification of Syria. Iran’s Hegemonic Drive. Middle East Quarterly 30/1.

Belhadj, Souhail and Laura Ruiz de Elvira (2018). Sectarianism and civil conflict in Syria: reconfigurations of a reluctant issue. In Hendrik Kraetzschmar and Paola Rivetti (eds). Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention (Edinburgh University Press): 322-340.

Bunzel, Cole (2014) The Caliphate’s scholar-in-arms. Jihadica, http://www.jihadica.com/the-caliphate’s-scholar-in-arms/.

Boëx, Cécile and Paulo Pinto (2018) Restituer la densité et la diversité des liens entre le religieux et le politique. Archives de sciences sociales des religions 181.

Carpi, Estella (2023) Syrian Refugee Faith Leaders in Lebanon: Navigating the Intersection Between Assistance Provision and “Spiritual Activism”. In Anna Rowlands and Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Contemporary Migration (Oxford University Press).

Drevon, Jérôme and Patrick Haenni (2021) How Global Jihad Relocalises and Where It Leads: The Case of HTS, the Former AQ franchise in Syria (European University Institute, Middle East Directions 108).

Ghanem, Aghiad (2021) Patronage, refuge, ancrage : l’internationalisation des Alaouites (Syrie, Turquie, Liban) face au conflit syrien. Ph.D. Thesis in Political Sciences, Institut d’études politiques, Paris.

Heller, Sam (2014) Islam’s lawyers in arms.  Foreign Policy, https://web.archive.org/web/20181121161122/https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/06/06/islams-lawyers-in-arms/.

Hinnebusch, Raymond (2019) Sectarianism and Governance in Syria. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism 19: 41-66.

International Crisis Group (2012) Tentative Jihad: Syria’s Fundamentalist Opposition (Middle East & North Africa Report 131).

Khatib, Line (2023) Autocracy, Iran and Religious Transformation in Syria, Syria Studies 15.

Leenders, Reinoud (2016) Master Frames of the Syrian Conflict: Early Violence and Sectarian Response Revisited. In POMEPS Studies 20: From Mobilization to Counter-Revolution.

Lund, Aron (2013). Syria’s Salafi Insurgents: The Rise of the Syrian Islamic Front (Swedish Institute of International Affairs).

Mazur, Kevin (2021). Revolution in Syria. Identity, Networks, and Repression (Cambridge University Press).

Phillips, Christopher (2015). Sectarianism and conflict in Syria. Third World Quarterly 36/2, 357–76.

Pierret, Thomas (2017) Syrian Salafis at War: Logics of Fragmentation and Realignment. In Francesco Cavatorta and Fabio Merone (eds) Salafism After the Arab Awakening. Contending with People’s Power (Hurst: 137-153.

——— (2018) L’Instance Islamique du Cham : une ‘voie moyenne’ salafiste contre la radicalisation jihadiste. Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions 181: 219-239.

——— (2024) Minister vs. Mufti. The Struggle Over ‘Moderate Islam’ in Wartime Syria (2011-2021). Mediterranean Politics.

Pierret, Thomas and Laila Alrefaai (2021) Religious Governance in Syria Amid Territorial Fragmentation. In Frederic Wehrey (ed) Islamic Institutions in Arab States. Mapping the Dynamics of Control, Co-option, and Contention (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace).

Pinto, Paulo (2017) The Shattered Nation: The Sectarianization of the Syrian Conflict. In Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel (eds) Sectarianization. Mapping the New Politics of the Middle East (Hurst).

——— (2024) Uncertain futures: Memory, performance and temporality among Syrian Sufis. History and Anthropology: 1–15.

Poujeau, Anna (2021) L’affaire des moniales de Sainte-Thècle. La communauté chrétienne en Syrie au cœur d’images et de récits concurrents. In Cécile Boëx and Agnès Devictor (eds.) Syrie, une nouvelle ère des images. De la révolte au conflit transnational (Paris, CNRS) : 302-.

Robbins, Michael (2023) MENA Youth Lead Return to Religion. Arab Barometer, https://www.arabbarometer.org/2023/03/mena-youth-lead-return-to-religion/.

Satik, Nayruz (2013) al-hala al-ta’ifiya fi-l-intifada al-Suriya. Omran 5/2: 373-427.

Schielke, Samuli (2012) Being a non-believer in a time of Islamic revival: Trajectories of doubt and certainty in contemporary Egypt. International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 44/2: 301–20.

Stolleis, Friederike (2015) Playing the Sectarian Card. Identities and Affiliations of Local Communities in Syria (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung).

 

 

  

L’histoire et la mémoire à l’épreuve de la révolte et de la guerre en Syrie

Appel à communication

Date limite de soumission des propositions de communication : 10 novembre 2022

Depuis 1970, la domination du clan Assad sur la Syrie se manifeste par son monopole sur l’appareil d’état et les ressources économiques ainsi que par le contrôle étroit de toute la société et des discours qui s’y déploient. L’histoire ancienne, moderne et contemporaine est l’objet d’une ingénierie politique visant à imposer une vision monolithique et falsificatrice du passé et de la mémoire. La révolution de 2011, outre les bouleversements politiques et sociaux qu’elle engendre dès son déclenchement, provoque une rupture radicale avec l’ordre narratif et sémantique imposé jusqu’alors. De multiples formes de prise de parole et d’écriture dans la rue, dans l’espace numérique ou au sein des mondes de la production culturelle redéfinissent les contours de nouvelles consciences de soi et de rapports au monde, en Syrie puis dans l’exil. La révolution ouvre alors des possibilités de réappropriations et de relectures multiples du passé, du roman national et des histoires locales, tout en étant elle-même au cœur d’une intense bataille narrative et mémorielle.

Ce colloque propose de réunir anthropologues, politistes, sociologues et historiens dans une réflexion commune sur ces actes de « mise en récit » de soi, de sa famille, de sa localité, de la révolution, de la guerre mais aussi des événements proches et plus lointains dans le temps, rendus possibles par le basculement de 2011. Les intervenants sont invités à mettre au jour la permanence de ces modes narratifs, leurs transformations et leurs reconfigurations depuis 2011. Nous souhaitons explorer trois axes de réflexion tout en questionnant le rapport renouvelé des chercheuses et chercheurs à leurs sources et à leurs méthodes.

1. Dompter le passé pour discipliner le présent : trames historiques officielles et historicisation de l’espace national

La mise en place d’un récit historique diffusé et canonisé dans l’espace public syrien est à la fois le fruit d’interventions de la part du régime et d’une longue sédimentation liée à l’établissement des structures de l’État-nation syrien. En révélant, en mettant l’accent ou en occultant faits, lieux et personnages perçus comme majeurs ou mineurs, ce dispositif façonne les discours autorisés, et contribue à construire des espaces physiques, sociaux et économiques. L’adhésion sincère ou de façade à ce roman a constitué l’un des socles politiques du régime. Ainsi, une attention particulière sera portée au déni, à l’effacement ou encore à la distorsion de certains faits historiques, sociaux et religieux et au sens qu’une interprétation critique voire dissidente pourrait leur donner. Il s’agira donc de se demander dans quelle mesure ces récits imposés, omniprésents dans l’espace public et dans le quotidien, ont pu susciter des manifestations explicites ou allusives de contestation avant et après 2011.

2. La révolution de 2011 : quand l’histoire fait écho 

Alors que la révolution s’impose comme un moment révélateur de reconfiguration des récits historiques et d’inventions de formes de prise de parole, on s’interrogera sur les modalités de contestation du discours historique officiel depuis 2011 mais aussi sur la réappropriation et la réactualisation de l’histoire et de la mémoire. Quels référents historiques officiels font l’objet de désaveu, de railleries et de détournements ? Mais aussi, comment dans l’élaboration de ces nouveaux récits sont mobilisés ou invoqués des figures, des épisodes, des référents historiques anciens ou nouveaux et des événement oubliés ou occultés ?  La tendance au retour sur des histoires et des figures du cru que l’on peut observer depuis 2011 dans différents espaces syriens nécessite également une réflexion sur les enjeux politiques et historiographiques des localismes et régionalismes émergents. La réflexion portera enfin sur les manières dont le moment révolutionnaire entre en résonance avec d’autres moments de l’histoire syrienne. Comment les acteurs de la révolte et leurs rivaux s’ingénient à construire des parallèles avec les révoltes du passé ou à les battre en brèche ?

3.  Formes et enjeux de la réappropriation des récits et des mémoires

La révolution puis le conflit en Syrie ont donné lieu à une somme considérable de traces et de documents produits par les acteurs eux-mêmes. Dès les premières manifestations, l’acte de témoignage et le souci de l’établissement des faits étaient au cœur des préoccupations d’un grand nombre de celles et ceux qui y prirent part. Le réinvestissement de l’espace public quand c’était possible, l’occupation de nouveaux espaces notamment dans les sphères numériques, artistiques, culturelles et militantes, ont engendré une production massive et disséminée de récits que nous chercherons à examiner. Quelles en sont les formes, les enjeux et les modalités de diffusion/réception ? Comment évoluent-ils dans le temps et dans l’exil ? Dans quelle mesure peuvent-ils contribuer aujourd’hui à faire autorité et à « faire histoire » dans un contexte de supposée « sortie de guerre » propice aux tentatives de réhabilitation du régime et d’effacement de ses crimes ?

Les propositions de communication (titre et résumé de 500 mots en français ou en anglais) sont attendues pour le 10 novembre 2022 et devront être envoyées au comité scientifique du colloque :

• Anna Poujeau : a.poujeau@ifporient.org
• Cécile Boëx : cecile.boex@ehess.fr
• Boris James : boris.james@univ-montp3.fr
• Vanessa Guéno : vanessa.gueno@univ-amu.fr

Les notifications seront envoyées aux auteurs avant le 25 novembre 2022.

Les frais de voyage et d’hébergement seront pris en charge par l’organisation du colloque pour les intervenants.

History and memory through the test of revolt and war in Syria 

Call for proposals

Deadline for submission of abstracts: November 10th, 2022.

Since 1970, the domination of the Assad family on Syria isn’t limited by its total monopoly on the state apparatus and its economic resources, but extends to the rigid control of the entire Syrian society and all of communication within it. Ancient, modern and contemporary history are all part of a political engineering scheme, with the aim of imposing a monolithic and falsified vision of the past and its memory. The 2011 revolution not only provoked political and social upheaval, but also created a radical rupture with the traditional discourse and semantic rules that had been imposed tillthen. Multiple methods of expression and writing, in the streets, in digital sphere or within the spaces of cultural production reshaped the new norms of self-consciousness and gave a new way of defining their relationship to the world, in Syria and later, in exile. The revolution opened new possibilities to reappropriate and redefine the past in multiple ways, ranging from national to local history, whilst being itself in the heart of an intense narrative and memorial battle.

This symposium aims to bring together anthropologists, political scientists, sociologists and historians to conduct acommon discussion on these acts of “storytelling” of oneself, one’s family, one’s hometown, the revolution and the warwhilst also examining events that took place recently, as well as further in time, made possible by the 2011 upheaval. The speakers are encouraged to shed light on the permanence of these narratives, their transformation and their reconfiguration since 2011. We wish to explore three thematics within our reflection, whilst also questioning the renewed relationship between researchers and their sources and methods.

1. Taming the past to discipline the present: official historic discourse and its role in the national space

The longstanding historical narrative that is fixed in the Syrian public space is simultaneously due to the continued interventions from the Assad regime as well as a general inertia linked to the Syrian nation-state structural establishment. By revealing, emphasising or hiding facts, places or actors perceived as major or minor, this is the method that shapesauthorised discourse, and contributes to build physical, social and economic spaces. The people’s adhesion, whether by sincerity or façade, to this framework is one of the regime’s supporting pillars. For this reason, particular attention shall be brought to the concept of denial, deletion or distortion of particular historical, social or religious facts, and the semantic value that a critical analysis of these facts could bring. Therefore it will be critical to question to what extent these forced narratives, omnipresent in the public space and daily lives of ordinary citizens, could have contributed to the protests, either explicitor implicit, before and after 2011.

2. The 2011 revolution: when history echoes

Whilst the revolution imposes itself as a telling moment of the rewriting of historical narratives and of the invention frameworks to express oneself, we shall examine the methods used since 2011 to contest the official historical narrative, whilst also focusing on the reappropriation and reactualisation of history and common memory. Which historical references are subject to distortion and reappropriation? But also, how in the context of the redaction of these new narratives are figures, episodes, historical, ancient or new events forgotten or deleted? The tendency to bring up key pivotal stories and figures since 2011 in different Syrian spaces also merits a reflection on the political and historiographic challenges of emerging localisms and regionalisms. The reflection will also focus on the ways that the revolutionary event comes into line with other events in Syrian history. How are the protagonists of the revolution and rivals working on building symmetries between past revolts or destroying them?

3. Forms and challenges of reappropriating narratives and memories

The revolution and the subsequent conflict in Syria created a great number of documents and traces produced by the protagonists themselves. Since the very first demonstrations, the act of testimony and the worry of establishing facts was at the heart of the preoccupations of a great number of those who took part in them. The occupation of public spaces when possible, the occupation of new spaces notably in digital spheres, artistic, cultural and militant, lead to mass production of scattered narratives that will be looking to examine. What are their forms, roles, and how are they disseminated and received ? How do they evolve through time and exile ? To what extent can they contribute today to write history in a “post-war” context, adequate to the regime’s rehabilitation attempts, and deletion of its crimes.

Communication proposals (title and summary of 500 words in French or English) are expected by the 10^th of November 2022 and should be sent to the scientific committee of the symposium:

• Anna Poujeau :  a.poujeau@ifporient.org
• Cécile Boëx : cecile.boex@ehess.fr
• Boris James : boris.james@univ-montp3.fr

• Vanessa Guéno : vanessa.gueno@univ-amu.fr

Notifications will be sent to authors before the 25th of November 2022.

Travel and accommodation costs will be covered by the organisers of the Symposium for the speakers.