The Publics of Syrian Prison Narratives After 2011

This talk explores three cases in the diverse lives of Syrian prison narrative practices between 2011 and 2024. Following a brief introduction to the genre of Syrian prison literature, which was well-established before the uprising of 2011 began, the lecture demonstrates how Syrian prison narrators living outside the country -- including survivors, activists, artists, and family members of the disappeared -- crafted the act of bearing witness to carceral violence to gain new audiences and to achieve new, distinctive political ends. Rather than focus on the content of prison testimony, this lecture asks, what did Syrian prison narrators imagine and use their testimonies for? It touches on answers including forensic analyses of the Assad regime; the conversion of non-elite, non-politicized listeners to the prison cause; and the affirmation of the revolution, despite years of war and defeat, as an unfolding political event.