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Rights in Exile: The Vernacularization of Rights Discourses by Syrians in Amman
Abstract
Official national and international discourses label Syrian refugee migrations into Jordan as a crisis and catastrophe. These discourses both structure Jordan as a benevolent protector of refugees fleeing war and violence, as well as serve the basis upon which Jordanian and international interventions are based. Such interventions are critical in the lives of Syrians in exile within urban Jordan, as it is through them that they obtain legal status and necessities for life. It is also through these discourses and interventions that Jordan and the international community attempt to make sense of Syrian refugees. However, this is not a one-way process as Syrians use these moments to imagine and make sense of themselves. This paper explores the development and performance of an emergent human rights-based discourse utilized among Syrians residing in Amman, Jordan. While this discourse may be originating from interactions between Syrian "refugees" and national Jordanian and international governmental and humanitarian organizations--interactions in which refuges are "informed" of their legal rights and status in exile--this paper argues that such discourse is being translated in a process of "vernacularization" by Syrians. As members of these Syrian communities speak among and between each other, they interpret and make this rights-talk their own, thereby asserting their continued humanity and place in both Jordan and the larger global community. This talk permeates all facets of life, emerges in a variety of forms, and takes a multitude of shapes: ranging from conversations regarding the meaning of "refugee," meta-discursive debates on the Arabic language, the telling of jokes, to Internet banter and memes. Based upon 22 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted with Syrian and Jordanian residents of Amman, this paper utilizes anthropological and linguistic theories to explore this discourse and its broader meaning, ultimately interrogating what the use of this language says about how Syrians experience the Jordanian nation and make order out of the disorder of life in exile from Syria.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Jordan
Syria
Sub Area
Diaspora/Refugee Studies