Authoritarianism, Displacement and Syrian Family Life: Reckoning with the State | Birgitte Holst

"Authoritarianism, Displacement and Syrian Family Life: Reckoning with the State" (Berghahn Books, 2026) unfolds how the extensive amount of contemplation necessary to interact with the authoritarian Syrian State had made Syrians keenly aware of the ways in which the state co-shaped even minute details of their personal and social lives and shows how this resulted in Syrians’ continued thinking with the Syrian State even as they were displaced from it. To make this argument, the book traces how Syrians’ attempts to position themselves regarding the Syrian conflict and displacement were impacted by their wrestling with the ways in which the authoritarian Syrian State had marked their family relationships, senses of self and perceptions of their place in the world. Based on long-term fieldwork in Lebanon and Turkey and drawing on the years Holst lived in Syria before 2011, the book thus traces the lasting effects of authoritarianism and its overlaps with the conditions of living through conflict and in displacement.
Birgitte Holst is an Associated Researcher at Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin. Her research focuses on processes of political and social change from the point of view of everyday life. Having lived and worked in Syria before the uprising in 2011, she examines these questions predominantly regarding Syrians living in refuge in Syria's neighbour countries. Her work has been published in journals such as Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, Conflict and Society, and Journal of Refugee Studies.
Moderated by Veronica Ferreri (University of Ca' Foscari)
The book talk will take place in a hybrid format. For Zoom participation, please register here: https://zfl-berlin-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/63CNh1pOQESSf9LEszIlDA#/registration
More info: https://www.zmo.de/veranstaltungen/authoritarianism-displacement-and-syrian-family-life-reckoning-with-the-state