2020/ 2021
Syrian Identity: Narratives of Belonging, Exile, and Home
Pearlman spent her first summer conducting interviews for We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled and writing that manuscript. During the other summers, she is continuing to conduct open-ended, life-story interviews with Syrian refugees for a new book project on how Syrians have defined and redefined their personal and collective identities since 2011. Given the upheavals of revolution, war, and displacement, what does it mean to be Syrian today? This book explores that question based on interpretive analysis of personal narratives, informed by engagement with interdisciplinary literature on theories of identity, home, exile, and belonging.
2017-2020
Syrian Refugees in Germany: Integration, Identity, and the Lived Experience of Exile
Pearlman spent the first summer conducting interviews with Syrian refugees for We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled and completing writing of the manuscript. During the other summers, she will launch a new project on the evolving experiences of Syrian asylum-seekers in Germany. Her field research will focus on questions of integration, identity, fulfillment of professional aspirations, and the lived experience of exile during this stage.
2016/ 2017
Syrian Narratives of Revolution, War, and Exile
Since 2012, Pearlman has conducted interviews with more than 250 displaced Syrians in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. She is using these personal testimonials to write a book of oral histories, currently under contract with HarperCollins, which offers a humanistic interpretation of the conflict in Syria and its impact on those who have lived it. The book explores how individuals’ narratives coalesce into a collective narrative whose arc paints a portrait of silence and intimidation under an oppressive regime before 2011, expresses the transformative experience of participating in protest against that regime, conveys the suffering and resilience of communities enduring violence thereafter, and offers a window into the challenge of becoming and being a refugee. As a EUME Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Pearlman will finish writing this book as well as carry out interviews with Syrians who have settled in Germany. She hopes that this new field research will be a springboard for a follow-up project on the evolution of Syrian identity under circumstances of conflict and dispersion.
2021/ 2022
Home is the Details: Syrian Narratives of Belonging
Pearlman spent her first summer conducting interviews and writing the manuscript for for We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled. During subsequent summers, she continues to conduct open-ended, life-story interviews with Syrian refugees. She has used these interviews to write academic articles on subjects ranging from social movement mobilization to refugee integration. She is also working on a new book project on displaced Syrians’ experiences of home as a feeling, idea, or place.