Dawn Chatty
About Dawn Chatty
Speech topics
Syria: The Making and Unmaking of a Refuge State
Syria, ravaged and destroyed today, experienced a prolonged multicultural history long before the term was coined. Home to the two cities, Aleppo and Damascus, that claim to be the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, its history is that of origins, from the discovery of the first phonetic alphabet at Ugarit, to conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus, the home of the Umayyads, first Islamic dynasty, the Crusaders and the castles they left behind.
Syria has been on our radar for centuries. In a broad historical sweep this lecture tells the two-century story of Syria as a place of asylum for Muslims and Christians refugees.
It articulates the long forgotten forced migration of Muslims from Crete, and from the Balkans, Crimea, and the Caucasus, continuing with the Armenians, Kurds, Palestinians and Iraqis. And it closes with a narration of the tragedy of how Syrians have now become refugees from their own country.
Speaking videos
Books by Dawn Chatty
“Syria: The Making and Unmaking of a Refuge State” (2018)
The dispossession and forced migration of nearly 50 per cent of Syria's population has produced the greatest refugee crisis since World War II. This new book 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 harbored millions from its neighboring 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 neighboring 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.
“Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East (The Contemporary Middle East)” (2010)
Dispossession and forced migration in the Middle East remain even today significant elements of contemporary life in the region. Dawn Chatty’s book traces the history of those who, as a reconstructed Middle East emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century, found themselves cut off from their homelands, refugees in a new world, with borders created out of the ashes of war and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. As an anthropologist, the author is particularly sensitive to individual experience and how these experiences have impacted on society as a whole from the political, social, and environmental perspectives. Through personal stories and interviews within different communities, she shows how some minorities, such as the Armenian and Circassian communities, have succeeded in integrating and creating new identities, whereas others, such as the Palestinians and the Kurds, have been left homeless within impermanent landscapes. The book is unusual in combining an ethnographic approach that analyzes the everyday experiences of refugees and migrants against the backdrop of the broad sweep of Mediterranean history. It is intended as an introduction for students in Middle East studies, history, political science, and anthropology and for anyone concerned with war and conflict in the region.
At a glanceDawn Chatty
Recommended offer:
Get a custom quote for your event:
Get StartedBrowse Similar Speakers
Speaker Search is a marketplace of speakers designed for talent buyers. We do not represent or manage speakers; instead, we provide event planners with the most comprehensive resource to discover and book the right talent.