The wave of popular unrest in the Arab world reached Syria in March 2011, and what started as pea... more The wave of popular unrest in the Arab world reached Syria in March 2011, and what started as peaceful demonstrations with simple demands of justice and freedom turned into a brutal armed conflict and a full-scale civil war. Over seven years of conflict resulted in the deaths of over half a million Syrians, the forced displacement of millions more, and a huge loss of the country's social and physical structures. What began as another Arab Spring movement against a dictatorial regime has turned into a proxy war that has attracted the interests of the world and regional powers. The paper discusses Syria's political history and investigates the motives for the Syrian uprising and argues that it is related to socio-economic deprivations rather than sectarianism. The work underlines the interests of the countries involved in the Syrian conflict focusing on Russia, USA, Iran, and Turkey, as well as their contribution to the future reconstruction of the country. Over the past few y...
The division of Aleppo city: Heritage and urban space, 2019
This chapter explores the role of the urban heritage of Aleppo – a focal point in the Syrian conf... more This chapter explores the role of the urban heritage of Aleppo – a focal point in the Syrian conflict – in materialising the city’s wartime division into the rebel-controlled east and the regime-controlled west. Using a variety of scholarly resources that discuss these changes in Aleppo, as well as interviews with experts and locals, UNESCO reports, local and international news agencies and even comments from social media, this chapter traces the physical transformations of Aleppo’s heritage before and during the war as well as the changes in the perception of heritage by the Aleppines. The argument of the chapter is that the city’s socio-spatial polarisation into east and west dates from a period long before the war, and that the specific localisation and fabric of heritage contributed to the division of Aleppo during wartime. The chapter however also observes that bewailing the loss of heritage may have the power to bring its residents together.
The wave of popular unrest in the Arab world reached Syria in March 2011, and what started as pea... more The wave of popular unrest in the Arab world reached Syria in March 2011, and what started as peaceful demonstrations with simple demands of justice and freedom turned into a brutal armed conflict and a full-scale civil war. Over seven years of conflict resulted in the deaths of over half a million Syrians, the forced displacement of millions more, and a huge loss of the country's social and physical structures. What began as another Arab Spring movement against a dictatorial regime has turned into a proxy war that has attracted the interests of the world and regional powers. The paper discusses Syria's political history and investigates the motives for the Syrian uprising and argues that it is related to socio-economic deprivations rather than sectarianism. The work underlines the interests of the countries involved in the Syrian conflict focusing on Russia, USA, Iran, and Turkey, as well as their contribution to the future reconstruction of the country. Over the past few y...
The division of Aleppo city: Heritage and urban space, 2019
This chapter explores the role of the urban heritage of Aleppo – a focal point in the Syrian conf... more This chapter explores the role of the urban heritage of Aleppo – a focal point in the Syrian conflict – in materialising the city’s wartime division into the rebel-controlled east and the regime-controlled west. Using a variety of scholarly resources that discuss these changes in Aleppo, as well as interviews with experts and locals, UNESCO reports, local and international news agencies and even comments from social media, this chapter traces the physical transformations of Aleppo’s heritage before and during the war as well as the changes in the perception of heritage by the Aleppines. The argument of the chapter is that the city’s socio-spatial polarisation into east and west dates from a period long before the war, and that the specific localisation and fabric of heritage contributed to the division of Aleppo during wartime. The chapter however also observes that bewailing the loss of heritage may have the power to bring its residents together.
Uploads
Papers by Nura Ibold