Understanding Syrian Voices: Refugees’ Stories of Revolution, War, and the Struggle for Home

The Moynihan Institute's, Middle Eastern Program welcomes Wendy Pearlman from Northwestern University.

Over 13 years, Professor Pearlman has interviewed more than 500 displaced Syrians around the world about their lives under a brutal authoritarian regime, the popular uprising against it, and the subsequent war and refugee crisis. In this presentation, she explores their stories collected in her two books, “We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria” (2017) and “The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora” (2024). These personal testimonials provide a unique window into one of the most inspiring liberation struggles of our times, putting the recent collapse of the Assad regime in a broader historical context and reminding us what is at stake, in human terms.

Wendy Pearlman is the Jane Long Professor of Arts and Sciences and professor of political science at Northwestern University, and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Perspectives on Politics. A scholar of Middle East politics, social movements, conflict processes and forced migration, she is the author of six books and more than 40 journal articles or book chapters.