Jonathan Holt Shannon

Prelinary abstract.My research investigates the role of music in the creation of home and the management of displacement for Syrians residing in Turkey, with a focus on Syrian musicians in Istanbul. My major research questions are: How do Syrians adapt to life in Istanbul through music, and how do they adapt their music to their new lives in Istanbul? In other words I am interested in the roles of music and other embodied practices (such as dance and cuisine) in constructions of home among displaced Syrians (musicians and non-musicians alike), and how the music itself changes in response to their experiences of displacement. The aim is to give us a fuller understanding of the relationships between experiences of displacement, memory-making, cultural agency and musical performance. Moreover, highlighting the agency and creativity of displaced Syrians allows me to counter the emphasis in refugee studies on their victimhood (something that many Syrians in fact discount or even reject).