In this episode, host Mohan Dutta discusses with guest Noor Aswad the legacies of imperialism in Syria. They stress the importance of not portraying imperialism with a broad brush stroke. Aswad points out how the converse of America as a beacon of light, which is America as an unstoppable imperial actor, erases the micropolitics of resistance; in this way, America is not the only actor of oppression in Syria. She also discusses the struggle among oppressed people to organize a narrative that resonates with the Western world.

Click here for the episode transcript.

Featuring

Mohan Dutta

Noor Aswad

Sponsor:

Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern University Qatar

More from the host & speakers:

Mohan Dutta

Professor, Dean's Chair | School of Communication, Journalism, and Marketing

Director, Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE)

Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand

Twitter - @mjdutt @CAREMasseyNZ

Noor Aswad

Doctoral student in the Department of Communication

University of Memphis

Twitter - @noorghazalaswad

Papers/Journal referred to in the episode:

Aswad, N.G. (2021). Radical Rhetoric: Toward a Telos of Solidarity. Rhetoric & Public Affairs 24(1), 207-222.

Ghazal Aswad, N. (2019). Biased neutrality: the symbolic construction of the Syrian refugee in the New York Times. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 36(4), 357-375.

Aswad, N. G., & De Velasco, A. (2020). Redemptive Exclusion: A Case Study of Nikki Haley’s Rhetoric on Syrian Refugees. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 23(4), 735-760.

Hensman, R. (2018). Indefensible: Democracy, Counterrevolution, and the Rhetoric of Anti-Imperialism. Haymarket Books.