This article analyses the performative dynamics of language in the chants of the Syrian demonstrations (2011-2024) in relation with Tarif Youssef-Agha’s memoir The Chronicles of the Syrian Revolution: The Orphan Uprising the Entire World Betrayed through an interdisciplinary framework combining Richard Schechner’s theory of Environmental Theatre and Cathy Caruth’s trauma theory.
Schechner reconceptualises performance as an immersive practice in which space, sound, participants, and audience co-constitute meaning, eliminating the boundary between staged performance and lived experience. Within this framework, the chants of Syrian street protests such as “Ash-sha’ab yureed isqaaṭ an-niẓam”, meaning “The people want the fall of the regime” and “Janna, janna ya watana”, meaning “Paradise, paradise, oh homeland” are examined as embodied performative acts that transform public space into a site of collective creation and resistance these conceptions are characterized by colloquial Syrian Arabic, repetition, and rhythm structures that enable huge participation and the construction of collective identity. Integrating Caruth’s trauma theory, which conceptualises trauma as an experience that resists direct representation and returns through repetition and fragmentation, the article argues how trauma-affected language can challenge power and reclaim silenced voices. These chants enact the continued violence and loss, allowing trauma to be voiced communally within the performative space of the demonstration. In addition, Youssef-Agha’s memoir moderates this process by transforming the street chants into poetic and narrative forms that bear witness to trauma.
The article contributes to interdisciplinary dialogues on linguistic performativity, revolutionary expression and the Middle Eastern cultural analysis by highlighting the role of embodied language in shaping revolutionary experience.

Authors:
Tami Aisha, The English and Foreign Languages University, India

About the Presenter(s)
Tami Aisha is currently a PhD scholar at EFLU, Hyderabad, India. She is interested in humanities and psychology during and after crises, especially for teenagers and children. Her current project is on analysing the language of the Syrian Revolution.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tami-a-33748a331

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