The explosion of violence in the name of religion following the Arab Spring in the 2010s, ever-multiplying factional fissures, and the disaggregation of states and societies have left parties active and interested in the region searching for instruments that might enable a more cogent and convincing understanding of a seemingly intractable tangle of interconnected conflicts – including the protraction of conflict and lack of transition into durable post-conflict situations and conditions. The seminar offers an introduction to the historical and political conditions that led to the devaluation of authority and the state with a focus on Iraq and Syria in particular. In both parts of the seminar, global implications and analogues to developments identified with the Eastern Mediterranean and North African region will be addressed, too.

This 4-credit seminar is divided into two parts: classical style seminar (2 credits) and an atelier (2 credits), with a few invited expert speakers and some hands-on reading of visual, textual, and comparative material.

The seminar is based on the research and findings of the international research team of the project Striking from Margin, hosted at CEU from 2016 -2024 (Center for Religious Studies, Phase 1, and Department of History, Phase 2).