In The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora, Northwestern University professor Wendy Pearlman explores how violence not only forced millions of Syrians from their homes but also compelled them to rethink the meaning of home itself. A follow-up to her book We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria, this new collection is based on original interviews with more than 500 displaced Syrians on five continents. It is a tapestry of testimonials that begins with stories of leaving Syria and follows refugees’ journeys around the world as they reflect on losing home, searching for home, and deriving broader lessons about migration, identity, and belonging. In sharing and reflecting on a selection of these personal stories, this presentation offers human context on dramatic questions facing Syria and Syrians after the fall of the Assad regime and reminds us what is at stake.

 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.