PhD defence by Saba Al Kuntar

Her research examines the experiences of Syrian refugees in Lebanon as they attempt to establish businesses within a highly precarious and restrictive environment. 

The thesis identifies and analyzes three distinct types of entrepreneurs - striving, artisan, and established, based on their varying degrees of informality and access to resources such as skills, capital, social networks, and legal status. It highlights how these differences shape uneven experiences of precarity and inform diverse strategies for maneuvering constraints. 

By foregrounding the role of intangible resources like social networks and unpacking how development-oriented approaches interact with host country politics, this research challenges dominant narratives of refugee self-reliance and emphasizes the political embeddedness of refugee economic life.

Doctoral Board

Chair

Professor Ruard Ganzevoort

Doctoral dissertation supervisors

• Professor Thea Hilhorst
• Professor Peter Knorringa 

Full Doctoral Committee

• Dr. Tamirace Fakhoury, Fletcher Institute, Tufts University
• Professor Catherine Brun, Center of Lebanese Studies
• Professor Enno Masurel, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Professor Wil Hout
• Dr. Sylvia Bergh