The upheavals of revolution, war, and mass displacement have transformed Syria as a nation-state. Along with it, they have and continue to transform what it means to be Syrian. How are displaced oppositionists — forced both from their homeland and the dream of creating a new homeland — defining who they are individually and collectively? What can their experiences teach us about identity at large? Social scientists conventionally view identity in terms of attributes that distinguish one’s self and/or membership in a group. Looking at Syria, many analysts assume that the most salient attributes are sect, religion, ethnicity, region, or family. This approach is flawed not only because it reifies static, essentialist categories. In addition, it is void of the emotions that give power and urgency to the questions “who am I” and “who are we.” Toward an alternative, I argue for reconceptualizing identity as a feeling of belonging. I adapt interdisciplinary definitions of belonging as the emotional attachments to social, material, or ideational worlds that ground people’s sense of meaning. I then use this concept as a lens through which to interpret open-ended interviews that I have conducted with more than 400 displaced Syrians across the Middle East and Europe from 2012 to the present. I propose that these narratives show how many who championed revolution uncritically assumed, but did not necessarily feel, belonging before 2011. The uprising was a turning point in part because it produced new emotional experiences of dignity and solidarity, which in turn gave rise to a novel sense of belonging to Syria, to Syrians, and to a larger movement for freedom. As the revolution has been incrementally crushed, those displaced outside Syria now confront questions of belonging in varied ways and places. Some find it in new networks of friends or in novel political, professional, or creative projects. Others find it in memories, communities of mourning, or dogged commitment to revolution. Others have not found it, and do or do not continue to search. Interpretive analysis of these life narratives sheds light not only on how individuals experience the aftermath of revolution emotionally, but also how those emotions infuse their very sense of self. In so doing, it illustrates the value of viewing identity not as a property that people possess or a classification in which they fit, but rather than a process that they continually undergo.