Syrian Oral History Archive (SOHA)
The Syrian Oral History Archive (SOHA) is an initiative launched by Dawlaty as an attempt to create a comprehensive Syrian narrative about what happened in Syria from the beginning of the peaceful movement in 2011 until today, collecting oral histories and building a unified archive that any Syrian from current and future generations can access. This initiative does not merely focus on identifying violations, but rather tells detailed stories of Syrian men and women, who lived through this period, whether they witnessed violations directly or not.
- In addition, this archive contributes to the documentation of these experiences and ordinary life testimonies, that complement the official recorded history by documenting individual and local knowledge, which are widely absent due to exclusion or marginalisation of such voices. Hence, a decisive aim of the archive is to communicate these experiences, needs, and priorities to public opinion and decision-makers.
Abut Archive
The current collection consists of approximately 400 testimonies, which have been collected from different regions in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Some of these testimonies are subject to restrictions and conditions set by the narrators themselves. The available testimonies were collected in the years 2016-2018, and the collection methodology focused on documenting the testimonies of marginalized groups and segments, taking into consideration that this was in the midst of the war years, highest attention was paid to the protection of victims and with attention to gender-sensitivities, especially that the archive collected a large number of women’s testimonies. Testimonies showcased in the current collection can be defined into two main categories:
1- Testimonies of women constitute 56.6% of all the current available testimonies
2-The second category is young Syrians, aged between 18-24, who in addition to telling their stories
Listen to their stories
Visit soha.dawlaty.org