Ontological security and identity change during The Syrian Civil War (2011-2019)

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2482913 _ (Table of Contents)

This research probes into the relationship between identity change and ontological security during the civil war in Syria, taking Salamiyah City as a case study. Ontological security is defined as an expressive zone demarcating the relation between the Self and the world; the wider this zone is, the more an individual or a group is ontologically secure. It refers to the ability of an individual (or a group) to express herself (itself) in the world, simply put. Contrary to the mainstream ontological security theory, change in identity or in routine is not necessarily a threat; indeed, ontological security is endorsed – exactly as identity – through change. The research suggests that the collective of Salamiyah at the meso-level describes a local identity (Salamiyah identity) more positively than it does the national identity (Syrian identity) because the former fosters ontologically secure space more than the latter, not because people hyper-identify themselves with their in-groups in civil wars as the essentialists argue. Individuals also endorse – sometimes deliberately – changes in their identities in order to increase their ontological security. That is, the expressive zone is not confined to identity, but to other dimensions demarcating the relation between the Self and the world. A change in identity does not necessarily ignite ontological insecurity, the research argues