Syria’s People: Lessons for the Future? I Dawn Chatty & Diana Darke I October 2018

Dawn Chatty, author of ‘Syria: The Making and Unmaking of a Refuge State’ and Diana Darke, author of ‘The Merchant of Syria: A History of Survival’ will each give a presentation on their recent books. Together, these talks will explore Syria’s historical embrace of refugees of all hues - Christian, Muslim and Jewish and its impact on its people. Using individual case studies, they will illustrate the complex web of social interactions that Syria’s people have developed over time to counter the fallout from colonial and regional wars and from political turbulence in their region. Both books begin with the late Ottoman Empire and Greater Syria (Bilad al-Sham) as it has been known for centuries and trace the unique social resilience of Syrians right up to the present crisis.