The Production of Historical Knowledge and Politics of
Memory in Rural Northern Syria: Histories of the Welde
Dr. Katharina Lange
In post-colonial Syria, history has for a long time been represented
in unifying narratives, emphasizing Arabic nationalism and Syrian
unity. Potentially divisive aspects such as ethnic or confessional
particularities and tribal or local affiliations – although
significant in internal political calculations – have been
largely written out of these ‘official’ narratives.
Behind this unifying historical discourse, however, more particularist
historical narratives can be discerned. Among the Arab population
of the Syrian Euphrates valley, accounts of the past are unfolded
from the perspective of the tribal group (ashira). In recent years,
these oral narratives have been supplemented by written versions
of more ‘local’ or tribal histories. Oral narratives,
publications by Syrian authors, and earlier writings of European
travellers and Orientalists are now used as references for these
histories, while larger narratives of Arab/Syrian nationalism
and the anti-imperialist struggle have been appropriated as the
structure in which these new narratives are told.
As a continuation of an earlier project within the framework of
the collaborative research centre (SFB) 586 ‘Integration
and Difference’ at the universities of Leipzig / Halle (2001-2004,
dir. Dr. A. Nippa), this project analyses the polyphonic production
of historical knowledge (in which the ethnographer’s presence
constitutes yet another voice) by tracing written and oral narratives
on the history of the ‘Welde’, one of the tribal groups
of the Syrian Euphrates valley.
|
