New Books Network Leila Hudson, "Lines of Flight, Assemblages of Home: Syrian Women Displaced" (Syracuse UP, 2025)
Dec 19, 2025
Leila Hudson, an anthropologist and historian specializing in Syrian and Middle Eastern studies, offers a profound exploration of displaced Syrian women in her book. She shares the intertwined narratives of the Arash sisters, emphasizing their diverse reasons for fleeing Damascus amid war. Hudson discusses the critical roles women play in navigating family dynamics and economies during exile. She also highlights the importance of digital connections via WhatsApp in maintaining ties throughout their perilous journeys, shedding light on the complex realities of displacement and hope for Syria's future.
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Long Relationships Made The Project Possible
- Longstanding relationships enabled Leila Hudson to document Syrian women's lives as displacement unfolded over years.
- Forced displacement made possible an ethnography that earlier political constraints would have blocked.
Family Life Stage Shapes Migration Choices
- The sisters' decisions diverged because class, age, family stage, and personality shaped different breaking points.
- Displacement amplified life-cycle differences and produced varied migration choices.
Displacement As Phase Change
- Hudson used Deleuzian assemblage and lines-of-flight to model displacement as phase changes from rigid homes to fluid networks.
- That framework highlights continuity and flux in family structures during exile.