Anthropological science has long established that ritual plays an essential role in stabilizing the moral life of a community. And one area of social life where ritual is most critical is in the disposition of a community's dead. among This is of particular concern for communities that have been displaced by conflict, where death rates are exceptionally high, and individuals face insecurity and a daunting scarcity of physical and legal resources that challenge the social order. The research supported by this award, which supports the training of a graduate student in scientific methods of rigorous data collection and analysis, asks how host societies deal with the high number of displaced migrants' deaths, and what role mortuary and funerary practices have for displaced communities. According to the UNHCR, the world is witnessing the highest level of forced migration on record, making this a particularly appropriate time to examine this question. In addition to providing funding for the training of a graduate student in anthropology, the project would improve scientific understanding by broadly disseminating its findings to organizations invested in discovering more effective means of delivering humanitarian aid. The project also broadens the participation of groups historically underrepresented in science, and builds capacity and scientific infrastructure through international cooperation among scientific research communities.
Foroogh Farhang, under the supervision of Dr. Jessica Winegar of Northwestern University, explores the extent to which mortuary and funerary practices are impacted by war and displacement, and what resources, networks, rituals, and relationships are marshaled in the burial and propitiation of the dead. The research takes place in Lebanon, where after seven years of civil war in neighboring Syria, displaced Syrians are the first refugee community with no formal camps and cemeteries. They have faced the increasingly stark challenges of securing one of the scarce number of burial sites and, further, holding a proper funeral for their dead. A lack of burial spaces, in conjunction with increasing restrictions on crossing the Lebanon-Syria border, have mobilized networks of Syrian burials within the borders of Lebanon and on the route from Lebanon to Syria. Because this involves such a sizable population, and the issue is so significantly culturally, this site proves an ideal laboratory for understanding what variables aid and inhibit cultural integration. Through in-depth, long-term, and on-site ethnographic fieldwork on people's mobility within Lebanon and between Lebanon and Syria, data will be collected through interviews, participant observation, life histories, and media research among representative samples of refugees, governmental and non-governmental staff, and local leaders and community members. Data will be subjected to thematic and content analysis in order to identify, quantify, and evaluate relevant codes and themes. This study draws upon classic anthropological concerns with ritual and death to examine whether its theoretical assumptions are influenced by variables that are acutely apparent in contemporary contexts marked by war, migration, refugee integration, and transnational NGOs. This research will contribute to debates in anthropology and the social sciences more broadly about mortuary and funerary practices, governance, mobility, and humanitarianism.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
