Al-Hawamil wa-Al-Shawamil : War and Questions of Identity in Syria

In light of global- intellectual and geopolitical- transformations, and the fateful events and challenges that they resulted in the Levant at the beginning of the twentieth century, different perceptions of society, state, identity and civilization issues began to form in the societies of the Arab Mashreq, and hence the relationship with the other. “The Other” was the colonial character at that time. In this context, Syria represented a pivotal focus. The Syrians interacted with these transformations and challenges with great perceptions about the nation, nationalism, renaissance, liberation, social justice and equality, and they took upon themselves “major tasks” and a “universal message”- which they believed they had to perform, and they championed Arab causes “from the ocean to the Gulf”, on top of which is the Arab-Israeli conflict.

But the Syrians, like all the peoples seeking liberation and independence, had to pay a price for their choices. Their modern history was stormy with confrontations, events, challenges and major shocks, which culminated in the global war that has been raging in Syria since 2011. A war that had traumas and effects that prompted the Syrians to re-ask themselves the big questions about those perceptions on which their cultural and political identity was based upon for more than a century; The question about “what it means to be Syrian?” has become a very vital, important and urgent task, although it is an extremely difficult and complex task, as the amount of transformations, stakes, ambiguity and uncertainty in the Syrian “event” makes the task closer to a risk or adventure than to a writing or research approach.