Transformation of the meaning of loss among displaced Syrians: an ethnography of a community of resilience

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2486484_(Table of contents)

The war that started in Syria in 2011 has given rise to immense economic, political, social, cultural, and individual losses and reconstructions, and a large population of displaced people. Currently, there are over three and a half million Syrians registered in Turkey. Although the “open door policy” has paved the way of a new life for many displaced Syrians, many are still exposed to numerous challenges. Considering the experience of war and consequent losses as both traumatic and transformative, this research explores the individual and collective ways in which displaced Syrians in Istanbul deal with trauma and transform its effects through empowerment and solidarity. The thesis focuses specifically on how a community center, imagined as an “open space,” shapes the sense of home and creates a site of resilience among displaced Syrians. Based on ethnographic fieldwork between January 2019 and April 2020 at a local community center initiated by displaced Syrians in Istanbul, this thesis tries to explore individual and collective capacities of resilience in dire times