Knowledge Production As Contentious Politics: The Rise of Expertise Among Syrian Activists in Exile
Since the 2011 uprising, Syrian protesters have deployed a wide range of activities in their struggle against the ruling regime. As millions of Syrians have been forced into exile, these activities have taken on an increasingly transnational dimension.
From the outset of this still ongoing conflict, opponents have constantly searched for means of documenting and analysing the events. These knowledge production techniques have rapidly become professionalised within the framework of a wide range of organisations. This paper will look in particular at the use of the Humanities and Social Sciences by Syrian activists in exile, who are studying matters relating to Syrian society. This intellectual activist work is carried out both individually, through academic studies or work, and collectively, within the framework of NGOs or specialised research centres. Among the latter, I will focus more specifically on the production of archives relating to the Syrian conflict.
My paper will attempt to describe the conditions under which this contentious knowledge is produced, focusing on the particular position of its actors, who have been exiled in wartime. It will address the political economy of this production, which is heavily dependent on foreign resources. Finally, it will seek to highlight its protest dimension as a instrument of transnational struggle.
The results presented in this paper are the preliminary stages of a research project currently underway, whose aim is to analyse developments in Syrian transnational activism and, more specifically, in the production of knowledge. It is based on a series of qualitative interviews conducted in France, Germany and Turkey, as well as online data collection.