EUME Berliner Seminar
Mi. 29 Jan. 2025 | 17:00–18:30

Beginnings: Documentation, Justice, and History for Syrians After Assad’s Prison Regime

Conversation with Annsar Shahhoud (Dublin), Mohammad Al Attar (Berlin), and Hadi al-Khatib (Mnemonic), moderated by Anne-Marie McManus (SYRASP / Forum Transregionale Studien) and Clara Abai (SYRASP / Forum Transregionale Studien / Freie Universität Berlin)

Forum Transregionale Studien, Wallotstr. 14, 14193 Berlin & online via Zoom

This session of the Berliner Seminar is part of the workshop “Voices, Communities, and Digital Archives: Producing Knowledge in and of the Diasporic Present” (27-29 January), organized in the framework of the ERC-funded research project “The Prison Narratives of Assad’s Syria: Voices, Texts, Publics” (SYRASP). It is also part of the open lecture series “Syria at a Crossroads”, organized jointly by the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies at Philipps-Universität Marburg, the Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM) in Tunis, and Europe in the Middle East – The Middle East in Europe (EUME). 


Since the sudden fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Syrians are confronted with previously unimaginable quantities of documentation. From paper files to surveillance footage to mass graves, the evidence left behind by the regime attests to decades of pervasive violence and granular control over a country whose past and future were, until recently, condemned to the tyranny of Assad’s rule that had been proclaimed to last for eternity. Syrian civil society actors and organizations in and outside the country have argued before and since December 8, that the securing, storage, organization, and study of these troves of documentation are vital to building a free, post-Assad Syria. The panelists in our seminar will discuss the challenges and progress of these tasks to date according to their distinctive perspectives and experiences. Key topics will include the urgent question of verifying the fates of the disappeared; the prospects for transitional justice; ethical questions, the emerging connections between Syrians in diaspora and in the country; and the shape of new national archives for Syrians.
 

Annsar Shahhoud focuses on state violence in Syria in her research. She holds a BA in Law and received her MA in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from the joint master’s program of the University of Amsterdam and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Annsar’s most recent publications include “Medical Génocidaires in the Syrian Civil War (2011-2019)” in the Journal of Genocide Research and the New Lines Magazine reportage piece “How a Massacre of Nearly 300 in Syria was Revealed,” co-authored with Uğur Ümit Üngör. She also has field experience working with humanitarian organizations such as Doctors Without Borders.

Mohammad Al Attar is a Syrian writer, playwright, and essayist. His work blends documentation with fiction, establishing him as an important chronicler of war-torn Syria. His acclaimed works include Withdrawal, Could You Please Look into the Camera?, Antigone of Shatila, While I Was Waiting,  Aleppo. A Portrait of Absence, Iphigenia, The Factory, Damascus 2045, and Yesterday’s Encounter. These plays have been staged at leading international theaters and festivals, earning global acclaim for their powerful exploration of the human spirit amid conflict. In addition to his stage writings, Mohammad has contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers, focusing on the Syrian uprising and its resulting conflicts since 2011.

Hadi al-Khatib is the Managing Director of Mnemonic and the founder of the Syrian Archive. He has worked since 2011 to collect, verify, and investigate citizen-generated data as evidence of human rights violations. Hadi previously worked with Tactical Technology Collective to support journalists and human rights groups in securing their data, devices and communications online. He also worked with Human Rights Watch and Bellingcat, and as a consultant with the UN International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism. He is a Fellow at Ashoka, and the Centre for Internet and Human Rights. 

Anne-Marie McManus heads the ERC-funded Starting Grant SYRASP (“The Prison Narratives of Assad's Syria,” Grant no. 851393) at Berlin’s Forum Transregionale Studien. She is the author of Arab Nationalism, Decolonization, and the Making of a Transregional Literature (forthcoming Cambridge UP, 2025); co-author and editor of Design of Necessity: Resilience and Survival in Syria’s Sieges (forthcoming, coculture); and a member of the Lab for the Study of Violence. Her research has been supported by the ERC, the Mellon Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and NYU Abu Dhabi, among others.

Clara Abai holds a BA in Archaeology of Western Asia and is currently enrolled in an MA program in the same field at the Freie Universität Berlin. Her research interests include contemporary archaeology, with a focus on challenging established historical narratives through the analysis of material remains. She is part of the SYRASP research project at the Forum Transregionale Studien, and the Gird-i Begum archaeological project at the Freie Universität Berlin.


This event will be held in a hybrid format. For in-person attendance, please register in via eume(at)trafo-berlin.de. For online participation, please note the login details for Zoom:

https://zoom.us/j/93604285501?pwd=oqNQo11EceZO4bpbLOrAxNTS8aSIYy.1
Meeting-ID: 936 0428 5501
Kenncode: 384528


Depending on approval by the speaker(s), the Berliner Seminar will be recorded. All audio recordings of the Berliner Seminar are available on SoundCloud.

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