Syria, Revolt and War in the Digital Age

An intimate portrayal of protest through images during the Syrian war

Never before in history has a conflict been so extensively filmed by its own warring parties, generating a wealth of sound and image. From the start of the Syrian revolt in 2011, several million videos were posted online by demonstrators, activists, and militant fighters. Their prime objective was to work around the media blackout imposed by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, as well as its calling into question the size and scope of activism and repression on the ground, by filming the demonstrations, the repression, and the funerals. Use of video quickly diversified to include protest action, testimonies, military defections, combat training, tributes to “martyrs,” and live combat.

Syria, Revolt and War in the Digital Age explores this vast territory of images and sounds, offering a new approach to understanding the conflict in Syria and, more broadly, it analyzes the new use of images in contemporary conflicts. Based on both digital ethnography and interviews with video-takers on the ground, the contributors identify gestures, grammars, and textures specific to this audiovisual footage that has emerged from different spaces of the conflict rarely studied as a continuum. The contributors to this volume look at images from opposing camps from inside Syria and in the diaspora in order to delve into the specificities of each side’s audiovisual practices and cultures, the way these images relate to one another, and how they might render the Syrian revolt and conflict more intelligible.

With the world awash in images from conflict zones, this book opens readers’ eyes to understanding heretofore neglected aspects of revolt and conflict and proposes new ways of thinking about them.

Contributors:
Hatem A., Independent worker, Malmo, Sweden
Emma Aubin-Boltanski, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris, France
F.B., Independent worker, Strasbourg, France
Erminia Chiara Calabrese, French Institute in the Near East (Ifpo), Beirut, Lebanon
Giulia Galluccio, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) Paris, France
Lucile Irigoyen, Independent worker and filmmaker, Mauleon, France
Shahriar Khonsari, Independent photographer, Tehran, Iran
Cédric Labrousse, The School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris, France
Anna Poujeau, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris, France
Chamsy Sarkis, Independent worker, Paris, France