Anthropological Methods and an Analysis of Memory: Migration, Past and Present in Raqqa Province, Syria

Öz

This text is an attempt to use material in one Syrian region as an example that speaks to a more general problem both in Syria and elsewhere. I argue that anthropological methods offer entry points to start thinking about reconciliatory processes for future conviviality and co-existence in this province and elsewhere. Participant observation is central to the methods used by social anthropologists. Such observation typically entails intensive personal engagement and interaction with people – informants or interlocutors – in the often-unbounded setting dubbed the field. This engagement and interaction is not predetermined by a strict research design. Instead, we are trained to expect the unexpected. Ethnographic fieldwork thus allows for serendipity; that process by which we discover important things for which we were not even searching, or were unaware that we were even searching for them, to begin with.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Raqqa province
• Anthropological methods
• History
• Memories
• Migration

Antropolojik Yöntemler ve Bir Anı Analizi: Rakka Bölgesi’nde Göç, Geçmiş ve Şimdi

Öz

Bu makale, bir Suriye bölgesindeki materyali hem Suriye’deki hem de başka yerlerdeki daha genel bir sorunu da kapsayan bir örnek olarak kullanmayı amaçlamıştır. Antropolojik yöntemlerin, bu bölgede ve başka yerlerde gelecekteki şenlikli ve birlikte yaşama pratiğinin uzlaşma süreçlerini düşünmeye başlama noktası sunduğunu savunuyorum. Katılımcı gözlem, sosyal antropologların kullandığı yöntemlerin merkezinde yer alır. Bu gözlem, umumiyetle, saha olarak isimlendirilen sınırsız ortamda insanlarla informant veya kendi eşitimiz [interlocutor] yoğun bir kişisel bağlantıyı ve etkileşimi zorunlu kılar. Bu bağlantı ve etkileşim katı bir araştırma tasarımı tarafından önceden belirlenmemiştir. Bilakis, beklenmedik şeyleri beklemek için eğitildik. Bu sebeple etnografik saha çalışması evvela serendipe müsaittir; yani kendisini aramadığımız önemli şeyleri veya onları aradığımızın dahi farkında olmadığımız şeyleri bulma sürecimiz.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Rakka Bölgesi
• Antropolojik yöntemler
• Tarih
• Anılar
• Göç

Kaynakça

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