Assessing Foreign Fighters from the Caucasus Region in Syria and Iraq

评估来自叙利亚和伊拉克高加索地区的外国战斗人员

• 批准号: 2594405
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2594405
• 关键词: Assessing; Foreign; Fighters; Caucasus; Region

This thesis examines Caucasian volunteers who participated in conflicts after 2011. Official estimates indicate that several thousand residents from the Caucasus - nominally called 'Russian-speaking' volunteers - participated in various groups involved in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Although existing academic work illustrates that 'Russian-speaking' volunteers made a substantial contribution to the conflict dynamics, empirical data on foreign fighters - including the various sub-groups (Lezgin, Kist, Avar) and different language communities (Azeri, Georgian) labelled Russian-speaking - is limited. An essential element of much work on the area studies pathway is specialist language overseas ethnographic work, enabling the researcher to build trust, collect data, and conduct interviews with marginalised communities that have experienced mobilisation. At the same time, research on mobilisation and high-risk activism, particularly in violent social movements, remains neglected in much of the theoretical literature. This doctoral research will address this research puzzle and gap in the literature and develop a methodologically robust body of empirical data collected during overseas fieldwork. The study involves data collection in different language formats (Turkish, Arabic, and Russian), including specialist local languages (Azeri, Georgian, Circassian). Interviews with conflict veterans, their family members, spiritual leaders, academic experts, officials, and journalists, numbering approximately 40-60 respondents, are necessary. However, because data collection for the doctorate involves working with at-risk communities and using a variety of local languages, overseas fieldwork in Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, where these communities are based, is essential. In sum, the doctorate will analyse an often neglected but substantial community of interest, create a new empirical data set, and make significant theoretical and methodological contributions to research on the emerging, interdisciplinary body of work on violent social movements.

本文研究了2011年后参与冲突的白人志愿者。官方估计，数千名高加索居民--名义上被称为“讲俄语”的志愿者--参加了参与叙利亚和伊拉克冲突的各种团体。虽然现有的学术工作表明，“讲俄语”的志愿者对冲突动态作出了重大贡献，但关于外国战斗人员的经验数据-包括各种亚群体（列兹金、基斯特、阿瓦尔）和不同的语言社区（格鲁吉亚语、格鲁吉亚语）都被贴上讲俄语的标签-有限。在区域研究途径的许多工作的一个基本要素是专业语言海外民族志工作，使研究人员能够建立信任，收集数据，并与经历过动员的边缘化社区进行访谈。与此同时，关于动员和高风险行动主义的研究，特别是在暴力社会运动中，在许多理论文献中仍然被忽视。这项博士研究将解决文献中的这一研究难题和差距，并开发出一套在海外实地考察期间收集的方法学上可靠的经验数据。该研究涉及以不同语言格式（土耳其语、阿拉伯语和俄语）收集数据，包括当地专业语言（格鲁吉亚语、格鲁吉亚语、奇尔甘语）。有必要采访冲突退伍军人、他们的家庭成员、精神领袖、学术专家、官员和记者，大约有40-60名受访者。然而，由于博士学位的数据收集涉及与风险社区合作并使用各种当地语言，因此在这些社区所在的土耳其，格鲁吉亚和阿塞拜疆的海外实地考察至关重要。总之，博士学位将分析一个经常被忽视但实质性的利益群体，创建一个新的经验数据集，并为研究暴力社会运动的新兴跨学科工作做出重大的理论和方法论贡献。