Revisiting the Syrian Left Through the Lens of Amman’s Archives

Driven by her interest in the role of leftist movements in 20th-century Syria, Christin Sander, PhD student of AGYA member Dr. Stefan Maneval, took part in AGYA’s Research Mobility Program (RMP) to conduct research at the Politics and Society Institute (PSI) in Amman, Jordan. This research stay plays an important role in advancing her PhD project, which focuses on the largely overlooked communist perspectives on oppositional unrest in Syria between 1976 and 1982. By examining the publications of the Syrian Communist Labor League (CLL) and the Communist Labor Party (CLP), Christin Sander aims to shed light on a transformative but understudied period in Arab New Left history.

What brought you to Jordan in the framework of your AGYA Research Mobility Project?

Researching Syria’s postcolonial history today urges researchers to broaden their sources. As a young scholar at the beginning of my career, I observe how the 2011 Arab uprisings not only questioned entrenched political systems but scholarship as well. Perspectives that were formerly ignored, such as an underground newspaper and oral history interviews with former members of a communist splinter group who are now living in various locations around the world, are now included in research. Constantly confronted with restrictions ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to an ongoing Civil War, I had to be creative in research. Due to the current inability to travel and conduct research in Syria (and Lebanon, another place of residency for Syrians today), Amman offers a viable alternative, serving as a site with close historical links to the Syrian Left and as a center for the Syrian diaspora and research on Syria today. 

Historical newspapers and political magazines are at the center of your project. What is challenging about your research? 

My research, I think, illustrates what ‘understanding’ can mean. I read Syrian underground communist periodicals from the late 1970s and early 1980s. These newspapers and magazines were produced partially in Lebanon due to the prevailing repression, and distributed in Syria. Trying to understand what it meant for people to write, publish, distribute, and read those newspapers in the face of violence and oppression fills me with both admiration and great respect. However, the term ‘understanding’ implies a more profound level of comprehension than mere empathy. These newspapers circulated not only in a bygone era, but also in a place that no longer exists because of the ongoing civil war, and which I have never had the opportunity to go. Reading the newspapers is a journey through time and place. So, understanding entails not merely translating a newly learned language or transferring Marxist theoretical concepts, but primarily attempting to read the sources in their original context. What may sound to me today like a (complicated) historical materialist analysis – how closely was its language aligned with the Baʿthist authoritarian rule of Hafiz al-Asad? How relatable was it to the Syrian working class? And how connected was it to an emerging Arab New Left? And to be honest, in the discussions I had about it in Amman: how applicable is it to a global Left today?

Did participating in the Research Mobility Program help you to broaden your network in Jordan and beyond?

Yes, my affiliation with the Politics and Society Institute (PSI) in Amman allowed me to engage with local knowledge production and situate my research within Arab discourses. I benefited from the PSI’s expertise in political science and policy on the region, which encouraged an interdisciplinary approach to re-examine the research question of my PhD. Moreover, the Research Mobility Program provided the chance to engage in spontaneous, informal, and daily discussions in Arabic.