Research Projects
Striking from the Margins: From Disintegration to Reconstitution of State and Religion in the Middle East (Central European University) (2019 until now): The Carnegie-funded research project seeks to consider conditions arising in the unsteady and seemingly deadlocked condition of military and political stalemate that has emerged in the Arab East, specifically Syria and Iraq. As part of this project, I am working on my individual research project titled “State Devolution in Syria and Iraq: Tribal Auxiliaries in the Margins”. I am also co-editing a book titled “Reconstitution of Power and Authority in the Arab Mashriq: Questioning Post-Conflict Scenarios” with Professor Aziz al-Azmeh and Dr Harout Akdedian.
Variations in Sectarianization in Syria (University of St Andrews) (2018 until now): Funded by a grant from the Danish Research Council, I am involved in a research project led by Professor Raymond Hinnebusch and Dr Morten Valbjørn at the University of St Andrews. The project focuses on the instrumentalization of sectarianism by regime and opposition and by competitive interference of external powers, as well as the discourse in the trans-state traditional and new media frames the Syrian uprising in Sectarian terms. An edited volume on the topic that comprises of in-depth case studies is being prepared.
Pastoralist Livelihoods in Asian Drylands (University of Oxford) (2015 until 2016): Funded by a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, I was involved in a research project at the University of Oxford/School of Geography led by Dr Ariell Ahearn and Dr Troy Sternberg. The project brought together the work of scholars from across Asia to discuss the transforming boundaries, agencies and risks involved in pastoralist livelihoods. The project culminated by publishing an edited volume: “Pastoralist Livelihoods in Asian Drylands: Environment, Governance and Risk, Ariell Ahearn and Troy Sternberg with Allison Hahn, Cambridge: White Horse Press to which I contributed with a chapter.
Identities in Times of Conflict and Displacement. The Case of Syria (University of Oxford) (2019 until 2020): Funded by a grant from the IKEA Foundation, I took part in a research project at the University of Oxford titled "Societal belonging in Syria: Meaning and boundaries of the Syrian "We" which explores how the meaning and boundaries of social identity are defined in Syria. The project was led by Dr. Kathrin Bachleitner and Dr Toby Matthiesen at the The Middle East Centre, in St Antony’s College. It culminated with a special issue on “Identities in Times of Conflict and Displacement. The Case of Syria." that will be published in Nations and Nationalism Journal.
Tribes and Tribalism: (Re-) Assessing Society in the Middle East and how we talk about it (University of Maryland) (2019 until 2021): I took part in a research project led by Professor Peter Wien at the University of Maryland on tribes in the Middle East and the actuality of their functions, and on the experiences of the people who adhere to them, while at the same time weighing these actualities against a critique of the tribalism paradigm. The project included holding a symposium at Maryland University and culminated with publishing a roundtable at the International Journal of Middle Eastern Study titled "Tribes and Tribalism in the Modern Middle East" where I contributed with a paper titled: "The Politics of Tribalization in Syria"
Keywords in Contemporary Media, Culture and Politics (LSE, 2020 until now): I am currently involved in a research project by Dr Omar Al-Ghazzi (London School of Economics). The project aims to shed the light on keywords by Syria scholars that investigate and reflect on the lexicon of politics and culture in contemporary Syria. A special issue on the topic will be published in the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication" with a contribution of a paper from me.
Tribe and State in the Middle East (LSE Middle East Centre, 2018 until 2019): The project was led by Dr Courtney Freer at LSE that explored the rupture and change in the relationship between the state and the tribes in the Middle East. The project gathered prominent academics from anthropological and political science backgrounds in a workshop in LSE in June in 2018 and culminated by publishing a series of blog posts on the topic by the contributors.
Mass Violence in Syria (The University of Amsterdam) (2019 until 2020): This collective research project was led by Professor Uğur Ümit Üngör at the The University of Amsterdam. The project explored a number of cases on the modalities of mass violence in the Syrian conflict to better theory-building on mass violence and to contextualize the specificities of the violence in Syria and offer appropriate comparisons. Results of the project were published in the Journal of Genocide Research where I contributed with a piece on the ISIS massacre of the Sheitate tribe in Deir Ezzor in August 2014.
Secular Ideology in the Middle East (Roskilde University, Denmark, 2014): I was invited to take part in this research project by Professor Sune Haugbolle to discuss the role of religion in state and society in Syria. I was a visiting scholar at the department at the Department for Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at Roskilde University where I gave a seminar on my research and wrote a short piece about Tribes and the Islamists in Modern Syria.
SEPAD (the Sectarianism, Proxies and De-Sectarianization Project) (2019 until now) (Lancaster University): This project is led by Professor Simon Mabon. I am a fellow of this research project where I continuously engage in discussions, workshops and conferences on the conditions that give rise to sectarian violence and transnational relationships along religious lines
Journeys to Tadmor: History and Cultural Heritage in Palmyra and the Middle East (University of Bergen) (From 2016 until 2017): Funded by a grant from the Norwegian Research Council, I took part in a research project at the University of Bergen that explored why Palmyra grew to become such an important centre of trade on the route between the east and the west and how this historical significance exposed it to the barbaric destruction at the hands of ISIS militants at a later stage. I contributed to the project with an article about life in Palmyra before and during the Civil War. I also gave a public talk at Bergen Museum at the opening of an art exhibition on Palmyra in 2017.