Understanding Bordering in the Context of War: an exploration of the experiences of Syrians frequently traveling to Lebanon

Abstract: In this thesis, I explore the bordering experiences of Syrians who frequently cross the border into Lebanon during the Syrian conflict. I draw on five in-depth interviews conducted in March 2018 to show how they live, understand and manipulate the border. Through a theoretically informed analysis, using the concepts of the social construction of reality (Berger and Luckmann), habitus (Bourdieu) and collective identity (Melucci), I find that the participants engage in a rather unique type of cross-border movement. Despite their ability to engage in frequent traveling, they cannot be seen as migrants because they keep returning home, nor as tourists because their motivations to travel go far beyond leisure or business activities. At the same time, I find that they value their home in Syria and that those who do want to migrate face difficulties. As a result, they end up in a type of yet undefined and underexplored circular traveling which allows them to enjoy the benefits of Lebanon and home.