De la campagne syrienne aux villes jordaniennes. Un réseau marchand transfrontalier à l'épreuve du conflit syrien

Abstract

International audienceThis article aims to analyze the consequences of an armed conflict on the functioning of a cross-border merchant and migratory network. It is based on a longitudinal study of the mobility of the inhabitants of Deir Mqaren, a village located in the Wadi Barada region of Syria. The approach is to discuss the distinction between voluntary and forced migration in a region where cross-border mobility has existed for decades. By focusing on the conditions of individuals’ movements, our aim is to analyze the process of polarization of migratory flows between Syria and Jordan. This shows the evolution of the mechanisms allowing refugees to circulate within a cross-border area despite a coercive mobility regime. This article focuses on the actors’ point of view. Here, we intend take a different stance from that of the institutional paradigm, instead highlighting refugees' status as free agents, despite the structural constraints with which they are constantly confronted.En partant de l’étude longitudinale des mobilités des habitants de Deir Mqaren, un village situé dans la région du Wadi Barada en Syrie, cet article vise à illustrer les conséquences d’un conflit armé sur le fonctionnement d’un réseau marchand et migratoire transfrontalier. À travers cette démarche, l’un des enjeux sera de mettre à jour les continuités qui peuvent exister entre migrations volontaires et migrations forcées dans une région où les mobilités transfrontalières existent depuis des décennies. En plaçant la focale sur les conditions du mouvement des individus, notre intention est d’éclairer certaines logiques de polarisation des flux entre la Syrie et la Jordanie, tout en montrant de manière tangible l’évolution des mécanismes relationnels qui permettent aux réfugiés de circuler au sein d’un espace transfrontalier soumis à un régime de mobilité coercitif. En privilégiant le point de vue des acteurs, nous entendons ici prendre à contre-pied le paradigme institutionnel, en insistant sur la part de libre arbitre dont disposent les réfugiés, en dépit des contraintes structurelles auxquelles ils ne cessent d’être confrontés

Refugees’ Transnational Livelihoods and Remittances: Syrian Mobilities in the Middle East Before and After 2011

“…After 2011, evidence from Jordan ( Lagarde and Doraï 2017 ), Lebanon ( Vignal 2018 ) and Iraqi Kurdistan ( De Gonzague and Dessi 2014 ) suggests that communities from rural Syria managed to capitalize on older connections with foreign employers and relatives abroad to seek refuge and jobs in neighbouring countries. While previously (mostly young) men had migrated, the demographics of mobile people changed.…”

Syrian street vendors and globalisation

“…By changing their trading itineraries and sources of supply in order to adapt to the structural constraints they have faced several times during the 20 th century ( figure 12), these peasant traders from the Barada Valley have always managed to overcome the shortage of local jobs by finding income elsewhere when it was inaccessible locally, including joining globalised supply chains, after having produced their own goods for several decades. Since 2011, the war in Syria has profoundly affected the commercial and migratory networks of these traders, as well as their working conditions [Lagarde et Doraï, 2017]. As these itinerant traders can no longer generate profits on cross-border price differences as they did before the beginning of the crisis, and are now forced to source their supplies in Jordan alone, their incomes have fallen drastically.…”

“…Inspired by the work of several contributors to this special issue [Pliez, 2007;Pliez and Belguidoum, 2012;Bouhali, 2015;Doron, 2015;Choplin and Pliez, 2018], I have endeavoured to trace the emergence of the commercial network used by itinerant traders from Deir Mqaren, its geographical distribution, and the origin of the food sold by these traders in Jordan. Although the main aim of this doctoral research was to highlight the influence of these movements on the routes currently followed by refugees from this village [Lagarde and Doraï, 2017] , a longitudinal study of this commercial and migratory network also found evidence of the long-standing nature of this practice in the Middle East, while highlighting the changes in the supply chains of the itinerant traders who are the subject of my doctoral thesis . This article is therefore intended to review the way in which this activity, oringinally based on exclusively local agricultural production, has gradually been grafted onto transnational networks of world trade in response to national and regional structural constraints.…”

Syrian trajectories of exile in Lebanon and Turkey: Context of reception and social class

“…This is perhaps due to the fact that people experiencing persecution or armed conflict are in need of protection, regardless of their background, resources and class position, and also because they are people whose history of capitals has been erased, so that they are not seen as having, mobilising or deploying capitals (Bakewell, 2008; de Haas, 2009). Existing research on refugee trajectories, however, sheds light on how unequal they are when it comes to establishing a new life in a country of exile (Ababsa, 2015; Achilli, 2015; Doraï, 2004, 2009, 2015, 2016; El Helou, 2014; Human Rights Watch [HRW], 2016; Jaber, 2016; Lagarde & Doraï, 2017; Roussel, 2015; Saif & DeBartolo, 2007; Turner, 2015). Individuals and families who are able to seek refuge outside the borders of their home country may have options that are more or less dangerous, desirable and feasible.…”