This event takes place in person at Charis and on Crowdcast, Charis' virtual event platform. This event is free, but registration is required for virtual attendance. Please read the in-person event guidelines at the bottom of this page to be sure you can participate in the event. 

Charis welcomes Reem Bailony in conversation with Roshan Iqbal in celebration of Syria's Transnational Rebellion: Diaspora Politics and the Revolt of 1925-1927.

This book brings to light the little-known story of Syrian-Lebanese migrant mobilizations around the 1925 Syrian Revolt against the French Mandate. Situated within the wider context of the emergent post-World War I international system, the book centers Syrian-Lebanese transnational efforts as central to understanding the fluid era of the 1920s. From the League of Nations in Geneva to the banquet halls of Detroit, global Syrians acted as synapses connecting networks within and beyond the French Mandate as they clamoured to create change back home. Syrian-Lebanese diaspora networks drew in and entangled a French colonial infrastructure that became vulnerable to migrant mobilizations, prompting the French to combat the rebellion outside of Mandatory borders.

Syria’s Transnational Rebellion shows how diasporic activities challenged the emerging postwar order even as it helped solidify its norms, crystallized a separatist Lebanese nationalism, and tested the limitations of nation-states in formation.

Reem Bailony is an associate professor of modern Middle East history at Agnes Scott College, with a focus on Middle East migrations and transnationalism. Her book, Syria's Transnational Rebellion: Diaspora Politics and the Revolt of 1925-1927 (Edinburgh University Press, 2025) explores the diasporic and transnational dimensions of the Syrian Revolt of 1925-1927, a watershed moment in anti-colonialism during the French Mandate era. As a recent Smithsonian Institution Research Fellow (2024), Bailony is also working on a project related to Arab transnational family dynamics after World War I, and how migrant families parented their children in the diaspora as part of a broader project in constructing their national-selves.

Roshan Iqbal is associate professor at Agnes Scott College.

The event is free and open to all people, but we encourage and appreciate a donation of $5-20 in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Donate on Crowdcast or via our website: www.chariscircle.org/donate or in person at the event.

Charis Books is a fully wheelchair accessible space with on site van accessible parking, two ramps, and additional overflow accessible parking nearby. Additional accessibility information can be found on the Accessibility page of our website. 

In-person event guidelines:

All attendees must wear a face mask during the event.

We will begin seating people at 11:30 AM ET.

This event will be live-streamed via Crowdcast. 

As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request specific accessibility accommodations, please contact info@charisbooksandmore.com or call the store at 404-524-0304.

Please contact us at info@chariscircle.org or 404-524-0304 if you would like ASL interpretation at this event. If you would like to watch the event with live AI captions, you may do so by watching it in Google Chrome and enabling captions: Instructions here. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org.

By attending our event, whether in person or virtually, you agree to our Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), class, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Unsolicited sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to Charis staff immediately or email info@chariscircle.org.

Syria's Transnational Rebellion: Diaspora Politics and the Revolt of 1925-1927 -- Reem Bailony in conversation with Roshan Iqbal