Social Change in Syria
Studying a rural village in northern Syria during a period of tremendous social and political change (1940s to 1970s), this book offers a unique perspective on how agrarian transformations in land distribution and its use deeply affected social and political relations among a rural community.
Embedding the personal with the local and the global, this work traces the seeds of social, political and economic struggles that are still important and unfolding in Syria forty years on: changes in social relations brought about by land policy and technological modernization, divisions and connections between urban and rural locations, shifts in education and immigration. Thematically, the study is divided into three parts: the first concerns the historical, socio-economic and political changes occurring in Syria from the beginning of the twentieth century, the second concerns the life histories of particular actors and their perspectives on social changes, and the third is analysis and update. This book is the edited and updated version of Khalafs original work, including an updating chapter which brings invaluable insight about the village and its people in the aftermath of ISIS and the destruction of the war in Syria.
Focusing on the village community of Hawi al-Hawa, this intensely knowledgeable and personal account a rare combination brings village life in Syria strikingly close. The volume is an important contribution to the fields of anthropology, social sciences, Syrian and Middle East studies.
Sulayman N. Khalaf is a distinguished Syrian anthropologist. With a PhD from UCLA, he has published widely on Syria, Gulf Arab societies and tribal communities. He taught at several Gulf universities and is an expert in intangible heritage. He retired in 2015 and now lives in Exeter, England.
Routledge/St. Andrews Syrian Studies Series
Edited by Professor Raymond Hinnebusch, Centre for Syrian Studies, University of St Andrews
Editorial Board:
David Lesch, Trinity University, Texas, Yezid Sayigh, Carnegie Research Centre, Beirut
Christopher Phillips, Queen Mary University, London, Eberhard Kienle, Institut Francaise Proche Oriente (IFPO)
This series aims to be the major venue for the dissemination of research on modern Syria. Although it will not neglect Syrias past, the focus is on the current conflict. It showcases work that locates cutting edge empirical research within innovative theoretical frameworks from all disciplines on, for example, social movements, civil wars, intervention, identity conflicts, failed states, post-war reconstruction, authoritarian resilience, and non-state governance.
The Syrian Uprising
Domestic Factors and Early Trajectory
Edited by Raymond Hinnebusch and Omar Imady
State and Tribes in Syria
Informal Alliances and Conflict Patterns
Haian Dukhan
Syrian Foreign Policy
The Alliances of a Regional Power
Francesco Belcastro
The War for Syria
Regional and International Dimensions of the Syrian Uprising
Edited by Raymond Hinnebusch and Adham Saouli
Social Change in Syria
Family, Village and Political Party
Sulayman N. Khalaf
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/middleeaststudies/series/RSASSS
First published 2021
by Routledge
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2021 Sulayman N. Khalaf
The right of Sulayman N. Khalaf to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Khalaf, Sulayman N., 1946 author.
Title: Social change in Syria: family, village and political party / Sulayman N. Khalaf.
Other titles: Routledge/St. Andrews Syrian studies series.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2020. | Series: Routledge/St. Andrews Syrian studies | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020023008 (print) | LCCN 2020023009 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367506261 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003050551 (ebook) | ISBN 9781000207019 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781000207057 (epub) | ISBN 9781000207033 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Social changeSyriaHw al-Haw. | Hw al-Haw
(Syria)Social conditions20th century. | Hw al-Haw
(Syria)Rural conditions. | Hw al-Haw (Syria)Economic
conditions20th century. | Hw al-Haw (Syria)Politics and
government20th century. | Hw al-Haw (Syria)Biography.
Classification: LCC HN658.H39 K43 2020 (print) | LCC HN658.H39 (ebook) | DDC 306.095691/2dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020023008
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020023009
ISBN: 978-0-367-50626-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-05055-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
Dedication:
To the people of Hawi al-Hawa
I wish to reproduce here the kaleidoscope of human life as it is projected through tiny individual human mirrors, each gaze reflecting upon itself as well as reflecting the larger beams of history and society.
(Khalaf 1981: 4)
Reflections and refractions from these mirrors continue to shine through in this book, which has quietly awaited publication for over 40 years. Family, Village and the Political Party was originally Sulayman Khalafs 1981 doctoral dissertation towards a PhD in Anthropology from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). However, as any anthropologist or social scientist working on Syria will know, its microfilm version has been indispensable reading to many who have tried to understand the Syrian cultural and socio-political nexus. Ethnographically located on the rural peripheries of Raqqa, the now infamous capital of the so-called Islamic State (20132017), this book publication of Khalafs original work is both long-awaited and perhaps necessary more than ever before. Setting the stage and casting light over a part of the world that has been brutalized by war as well as misinformation, Khalafs intensely knowledgeable and personal account - a rare combination - brings village life in Syria strikingly close.
This book ventures into territories few ethnographies go, through the combination of broad scholarly inquiry and participants narratives, providing a clear trajectory of a village in changing times and its inhabitants perceptions and adaptive strategies. Methodologically diverse, Khalafs work simultaneously mixes historical record with villagers experience, ethnographers pen with actors voices. Thematically, this book is divided into three parts: the first concerns the historical, socio-economic and political changes in Syria from the beginning of the twentieth century, the second concerns the life changes of particular actors, and hence social changes through their perspectives, and the third is analysis and update.
