The ‘Silences’ of Syrian Literature and Arts: Strategies of Concealing and Revealing in the Face of Political Repression
On November 24.-25., 2023, a workshop was organized by Dr. Barbara Winckler at the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Münster, dealing with modern Syrian literature and arts – a topic in which until resently Western academia had shown little interest.
Syrian literature was mainly perceived as as stuck between (social) realism and political repression, lacking the experimental character of postmodern literary texts. With the uprisings of the ‘Arab Spring’, Syrian literary and cultural production – especially popular forms of dissent – caught the attention of researchers and media, especially with many authors and artists moving to Europe. Critics emphasized the unreserved criticism that defined large segments of post-2011 Syrian literature and arts, as compared to authors in earlier decades – especially those that stayed in Syria – who had turned to more subversive forms of expressing social and political criticism, while also experimenting with ‘silence’ as a performative device.
The workshop brought together international scholars based in Germany to explore forms and strategies of Syrian writers and artists of different generations to conceal or reveal critical perspectives on society, demonstrating how the new wave of open protest did not materialize in a cultural and political vacuum, but had its roots in earlier decades. The presentations challenged paradigms of ‘resistance’ or ‘protest’, suggested new approaches to memory, cultural heritage and trauma dynamics, and added aspects of social and material conditions of cultural production. While the focus was on fictional and non-fictional texts, such as poetry, novels and memoirs, alternative modes of intellectual and cultural production, such as songs and underground music, were also explored. Furthermore, the presentations were complemented by poetry reading and a conversation with the Syrian poet Hanadi Zarka.