Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons^™

"Because They Recognized Us": Triangulated Perspectives Of Syrian Mothers' Resettlement Experiences In The Eastern United States., Kayte Thomas

Journal of Applied Disciplines

Research indicates that post-resettlement experiences can be particularly challenging for people with refugee status. Despite finding safety in and adjusting to their new home, former refugees have indicated that this time can be stressful and even traumatic. The current Syrian crisis has created the largest wave of refugees ever known, and Syrian women are amongst the most vulnerable. However, women’s needs and preferences are often not taken into consideration during the resettlement journey and when they are, there is no distinction between mothers and their childless counterparts. As social workers strive to empower the individual person within their environment, it …

Lisa Campbell, Lisa Campbell, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Lisa Campbell, project manager for the non-profit Do Your Part Refugee Community Center in Greece. Lisa combined efforts with multiple organizations to better the lives of refugees in the Delisi, Greece area. Lisa discusses the evolution of the growing refugee crisis and the millions who flee to Greece and Turkey.

The Role Of The Kurds In U.S. Foreign Policy, Davis Mccool Iii

Honors Theses

The Kurdish people in the Middle East have played a valuable role in furthering U.S. policy interests in the region. The U.S. has aligned itself with various Kurdish groups in a series of strategic partnerships dating back to the early 1970s, yet has never considered the Kurdish nation an ally. As such, the U.S. has reneged on multiple different pacts with the Kurds and opened the door for state-sponsored conflict against a supposed ally, despite mutual interests between both groups. This thesis aimed to assign a formal role to the Kurds within U.S. foreign policy, and to analyze the function …

Review Of The Cat Man Of Aleppo By Irene Lathan And Karim Shamsi-Basha, Katie E. Gosman

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

2020 Children's Story Cards, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Arif: "I like being in school again."

Norina: "We laugh a lot but I also worry."

Nooda: "I came on a boat. It was a big boat!"

Madina: "I just want to live in a safe place..."

Shurangez: "Sometimes we didn't feel safe at school."

Alex: "I'm from Nigeria. Coming to Italy was very difficult-very, very difficult, a real struggle."

Danial: "I want to be a useful person and follow my dreams."

Firoz: "I am 13 years old and I am worried about my family."

Ali: "Ali lived in Afghanistan. One day while walking to school a bomb exploded near …

“The People Of Aram Shall Go Into Exile”: Practical And Theological Dilemmas Of Middle Eastern Churches Since The Beginning Of The Syrian War, Wilbert Van Saane

The Journal of Social Encounters

This paper discusses the way in which Christian churches in the Middle East have responded to the Syrian War. It signals some practical and theological dilemmas that these churches have faced since the conflict in Syria broke out. The description of these dilemmas is primarily based on interviews with a representative sample of church leaders. Analysis of these dilemmas sheds light on the way the churches of the Middle East have contributed to peaceful resolutions of the Syrian conflict, or failed to do so. Before going into the practical and theological dilemmas of the churches, the article provides a short …

Forced Migration: A Syrian Exodus To Germany, Taylor Witt

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

The Syrian Civil War has killed over 500,000 people and displaced over 12 million since it began in 2011. The conflict has resulted in forced migration on a massive scale. Syrian people have been displaced within Syria, to the surrounding Arab states and to Europe. This has led to an immigration crisis in some parts of the European Union. Germany has become a primary destination for these refugees, but nationalist, xenophobic forces have started pushing back against what is perceived to be an invasion of foreigners into their land and their borders. This project examines the sentiments of German citizens …

Regime Change, Deferred: Regarding United States’ Foreign Policy In Syria, Rosa Mazza–Hilway

Political Analysis

In 2011, President Obama proclaimed, “the time has come for President Assad to step aside” (“President Obama”). The question then becomes: why has the United States failed to act upon this declaration and been unsuccessful in achieving regime change in Syria? While there is evidence to suggest regime change is the ultimate goal in Syria, there has been a lack of action taken to facilitate the deposition of Assad. In this paper, there will be an emphasis on the policies and rhetoric that indicate the desire to catalyze a shift in governmental power through the disposal of the Assad regime. …

Prospects For Justice And Accountability In Syria, Alexis Staubus

Augsburg Honors Review

In recent years, the international community has closely monitored the actions of Syrian president, Bashar-al Assad. Since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, President Assad has continued to incite widespread violence throughout Syria by committing mass atrocities that violate international laws. There is evidence to provide proof of President Assad’s connection to his crimes and that his crimes have killed and displaced millions of Syrians. However, the legalities of indicting a head of state and the special interests between the members of the United Nations Security Council create obstacles that make prosecuting President Assad near impossible in …

Syrian Crisis Representation In The Media: The Cnn Effect, Framing, And Tone, Savannah S. Day

Venture: The University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal

Over the past seven years of the Syrian Civil War, Syrian refugees have been painted in a negative light by news media outlets around the world. History of media coverage regarding global humanitarian crises shows that with various tools and processes, media can shape public opinion and policy in whichever direction it desires, and oftentimes policymakers and the public are quick, as well as emotional, to react. In this paper, my objectives are to analyze specific examples of this CNN Effect phenomena within news coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis, as well as generally explain the negatively correlating relationship between …

Once Upon A Time...When A Revolution Evolved To A Civil War In Syria, Crystal M. Myers

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

This paper gives an overview of how the conflict in Syria has evolved from a revolution into a sectarian civil war. Power is maintained by the ruling Assad family through promotion of the Alawite minority within the government and military. Methods of persecution on the Sunni majority by the Assad government are discussed as well as a policy of strategic expulsion of the Sunni enclave to Idlib, a city on the outskirts of Syria (bordering Turkey).

Silenced Bodies: (En)Gendering Syrian Refugee Insecurity In Lebanon, Jessy Abouarab

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While there has been a shift in security studies from the security of states to that of people, realpolitik still takes place under the banner of an emerging discourse of ‘refugee crisis.’ Refugee insecurities are (en)gendered and experienced where their depth and breadth pose significant challenges to asylum seekers, neighboring host-states, and humanitarian agencies. To this end, this research captures the unique dynamics of a South-South refugee crisis in Lebanon, in which Syrians residents make up nearly one-third of its population. It applies a transnational feminist framework to trace how refugee security norms get defined, are managed, and how they …

Refugees From Syria Caught Between War And Borders: A Journey Towards Protection, Maissaa Almustafa

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines the global crisis of protection through the lens of the Syrian refugee crisis and the particular experiences of refugees’ journeys to Sweden.

In doing so, the dissertation challenges the dominant narratives that represent refugees either as victims who deserve aid in their regions, or as threats when they exert their agency and journey towards the global north. In the same vein, the dissertation problematizes the dominant narrative of the “European crisis of migration” and proposes that the “unauthorized” arrivals of refugees in Europe are reflections of a global crisis of protection, a crisis that develops as a …

Response And Responsibilities Of The Republic Of Macedonia In The Migrant And Refugees Crises, Toni Mileski

New England Journal of Public Policy

The Republic of Macedonia has had a long history of dealing with migrants and refugees. Since the late nineteenth century, conflicts, including the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), the First and Second World Wars, the Greek civil war (1945–1949), the Kosovo conflict, and the 2001 internal security crisis, have caused successive waves of migration. More recently, armed conflict in the Middle East, especially in Syria, caused a migrant and refugee crisis that has deeply affected the country. This article analyses how the Republic of Macedonia has responded to this crisis. It examines the initial period of the crisis, the measures, activities, and …

Oral History Conversation With Yasmin Alkhal, Elona Bebla, Nick Del Mundo

Philosophy 111: Philosophy of Human Nature

This oral history project builds on an ongoing storytelling project by freelance photographer Jim Lommasson entitled What We Carried: Fragments from the Cradle of Civilization, which has now become a traveling exhibit. The exhibit features various artifacts and belongings that Iraqi and Syrian refugees have carried with them on their journey to America. Each artifact bears a story about particular objects, images, or memories that reconnect refugee communities to what they have lost or left behind.

In their conversations with Iraqi and Syrian refugees, USD students invited members of the Iraqi/Syrian communities in San Diego to share the life …

The Unraveling Of The Nation-State In The Middle East: Examples Of Iraq And Syria, Zachary Kielp

MSU Graduate Theses

After the carnage of World War One and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire a new form of political organization was brought to the Middle East, the Nation-State. Based on European ideas of Sovereignty and equality between countries; the nation-state was thrust upon these areas that had no history or interest in adopting a foreign form of governance and served the primary purpose of safeguarding the imperial interests of Europe. Compounding their error, the regions of these new nation-states contained populations that had long resented and mistrusted each other. While these countries could be held together by repressive dictatorships for …

Nicole Ludwig, Tsos, Nicole Ludwig

TSOS Interview Gallery

In September 2016, Nicole Ludwig led a group of her neighbors in Germany to assist newly-arrived Syrian and Afghani refugees. The volunteers collected clothing and toys, organized activities and field trips for the refugee children, and taught them German. Later, the volunteers offered homework support and led library reading groups. For the adult refugees, the volunteers provided cultural assimilation instruction and cooking classes. While there were occasional challenges to working together, the volunteers and refugees fostered a collaborative system and even hosted a Christmas party, during which one elderly Syrian man said, “This is one of the best memories I …

Layla, Layla, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Layla left Ethiopia 10 years ago to look for work opportunities. She left behind a father and three brothers. She went to Syria on a three-year work contract. She worked in a house and learned Arabic. She then went to Turkey by boat and then went on to Greece for 5 years. She worked and learned the Greek language. When she became pregnant she had to stop working. She travelled to Serbia to Macedonia to Austria all on foot. Then the Red Cross moved Layla and her daughter to Giessen, Germany where a roommate periodically beat her baby. Seeking safety …

A Contemporary Analysis And Comparison Of Kurdish National Movements: Syria, Iraq, And Turkey, Grayson Lanza

Honors Undergraduate Theses

As commonly understood, and particularly espoused by Kurdish nationalists, the Kurds are by far the largest ethnic group in the world without their own nation-state. An estimated 2 to 2.5 million ethnically Kurdish people inhabit portions of Syria. There are approximately 6.5 million ethnically Kurdish people in Iraq, 7.6 million in Iran, and 16 million in Turkey. Overall, there are about 30 million Kurds in the world. In the broader context of the Kurdish nationalist struggle, this paper suggests that there is a growing bipolar hegemony for power over the control of Kurdish land and politics. Research was predicated around …

Aisha, Aisha, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Aisha, a Syrian native, lived in Latakia with her Palestinian husband and six children. Their children were not allowed to attend school because of their Palestinian heritage. During the war, mortars and missiles hit the city, and Aisha's brother lost three children. Aisha's uncle in Jordan helped to smuggle their family into Turkey after they decided to escape.

They sailed to Greece with a boat carrying about 350 people. The ship's drivers abandoned it during the journey. To save the children on board, Aisha's husband steered the sinking ship. Her husband was arrested in Greece, and Aisha, who was five …

Pamir And Rahila, Pamir, Rahila, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Pamir is from Afghanistan. He is a Hazarah, an ethnic minority group in Afghanistan. The Taliban hates his people. Nearly every member of his family has bullet wounds and war scars. His father was shot during the Mujahedin War and still has bullets in his leg. His older brother is blind in one eye and is still in Iran. His other brother was shot in the head and killed somewhere between the age of thirteen and fifteen. They escaped to Iran from Afghanistan, but the police caught Pamir and took him to a camp. They told him he could either …

Aeham, Aeham, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Aeham Ahmad is a pianist from Yarmouk, Syria who gained internet fame from videos posted of him performing on the streets. Because of this, he was targeted and forced to flee to Germany, leaving his wife and two sons behind. Since this interview, his family has joined him.

Aeham’s talent and fame opened up opportunities to perform in various cities in Germany. To share his story during these performances, he learned English. He wants to use music to make a difference in the world. During his time in Yarmouk, there was an underground area where children practiced music because it …

Kamaria Bakes, Kamaria, Twila Bird, Lindsay Silsby, Yasmine Kataw, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Amina is from Aleppo, where she was a math teacher. She is married with four boys. Her family fled to Turkey from Syria after losing their home in the war. Amina and her youngest son then sailed on an inflatable boat to Greece. Using cars, buses, and trains, they traveled from Greece to Macedonia, then on through Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria before finally arriving in Germany. They stayed for two months in Camp Hamburg before being transferred for a short time to Lemberg. Lemberg was followed by another camp for three and a half months and then to Eisenberg …

The Challenges Of Isis And The Modern Nation-State, Matthew Burton

Honors Theses

This essay examines the challenges that the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS, pose to the contemporary state system. The rise of ISIS in the territories of Iraq and Syria raises two fundamental questions, one conceptual the other directly political: First, ISIS’s claim to be a state and world powers’ resistance to this claim raises the question of what constitutes a state in today’s international system. Second, as a unique form of political organization that has become successful in the Middle East in a relatively short time, ISIS raises a number of practical political questions such as, what it takes to …

Syria: The Name Of Our Shame, Lama Abu-Odeh

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

From withdrawing US troops from Iraq to waging a war on ISIS in Iraq, Obama has deftly recast the meaning of US intervention in the region from unjustifiable imperialist occupation (of Iraq by conservatives) to justifiable global policing of terror (the liberal answer to occupation). The former is a form of irrational, inefficient, unnecessary, and morally indefensible intervention, whereas the latter is a form of rational, efficient, necessary and virtuous one. In this essay, I argue that that the withdrawal/re-intervention of the US supra state in the imperial place staged by Obama, cheered for and rationalized by liberals, is similar …

The United Nations: The Syrian Refugee Crisis, Zahra R. Syed

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The main objective of this research paper is to analyze the international effects the Syrian Conflict has had to the global community. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has declared this conflict to be the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Millions of Syrians have fled their home country to avoid unjust persecution and are looking to not only neighboring countries, but the European Union for assistance in resettlement.

Since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria in 2011, more than 220,000 people have been massacred, leaving fifty percent of the population in unrest due to home displacement. According …

Europe’S Refugee Crisis: Assessing The Factors Preventing A Coordinated Eu Response, Ali Albassam

Master's Theses

In order to escape increasing political violence in the Middle East and Africa, many refugees are fleeing by sea to seek asylum in Europe. As a result, Europe has witnessed the highest influx of refugees since World War Two. European Union member states have scrambled for a solution, seemingly unable to form a collective response. The reemergence of nationalism amid the arrival of thousands of refugees not only clouds Europe’s moral compass, but also weakens the EU and its founding principles. In an effort to contribute to the protection of refugees and the EU and its values, this thesis aims …

Refugee Crisis And Response, Jennifer Thomson

Bucknell: Occupied

Jennifer Thomson, assistant professor of History at Bucknell University, interviews Emek Ucarer with the department of International Relations at Bucknell University. Ucarer discusses the destabilization which led to the displacement of millions of humans from the Middle East and the policies and biases that affect reception.

Introduction: A Legacy Of Raised Expectations, Leif Stenberg, Christa Salamandra

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Turkey And Saudis In Syria: Aligned Interests, Clashing Revisionisms, Zenonas Tziarras

Zenonas Tziarras

In early May, 2015 it became known that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are supporting extremist Islamist groups in Syria against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. That Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, among others, have – mostly indirectly – been supporting Islamist groups is not news as similar reports have been emerging from time to time since 2011, if not earlier. But this policy with regard to the Syrian conflict became increasingly overt amidst growing instability and lack of Western commitment to Assad’s overthrow. According to The Independent and other media, Turkish and Saudi support focuses on the overarching jihadist group …