2021 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 3(1) ‘an authentic reflection of what it means to be stateless in today’s world in order to create a realistic understanding of what is needed to improve stateless people’s situations’. 5 In his thought-provoking piece in this issue, Haqqi Bahram’s ‘Towards a Stateless Standpoint Epistemology’ seeks to ‘introduce and propose the concept of stateless standpoint epistemology as an approach in statelessness research for realigning knowledge with stateless persons’ experiences’. 6 This, he explains, ‘[b]asically … means starting knowledge about statelessness from the standpoints of stateless persons’. 7 This contribution pushes us as statelessness scholars to ‘address the existing gap of methodological discussions about how and what knowledge of statelessness is produced, something that is much needed but is often marginally stated or left out from the body of research’. 8 The Critique and Commentary part of this volume offers a set of timely, diverse and insightful perspectives on COVID-19 and statelessness that are strongly grounded in the experiences of the stateless, undocumented and those at risk of statelessness. This section is now in the very capable hands of Associate Professor Jamie Liew, taking over from Dr Kristy Belton who did a truly outstanding job in shaping this section of the Review, introducing dedicated thematic foci such as the ‘Reflection on Statelessness Studies’ (Volume 1(1)), and the symposium on ‘Statelessness and Slavery’ (Volume 2(1)). As Jamie explains, in bringing together this volume’s COVID-19 focused pieces, it is important to recognise that ‘[e]ach writer is either from that community, or has work and/or research embedded in the community they are writing about’. 9 As she further notes, in taking this approach, these commentaries expose ‘how the lack of status is not only the fundamental reason why stateless and undocumented persons face abuse, exploitation, poverty and other challenges but how their status is politically constructed’, and also that ‘each piece also provides some hope that the pandemic offers a moment of change’. 10 Other new approaches and critiques are evident in some of the other excellent contributions to this bumper issue of the Statelessness & Citizenship Review, which, in addition to articles, case notes and book reviews on a diverse range of issues, and the thematic focus on COVID-19 and statelessness, also features a forthcoming symposium on ‘Citizenship and Statelessness in India’, edited by guest editor Dr Adil Hasan Khan. Malak Benslama-Dabdoub’s article, ‘Colonial Legacies in Syrian Nationality Law and the Risk of Statelessness’ is a highly original and ground-breaking tour de force of the long and complex history of Syria as a nation-state, tracing the colonial roots of Syrian legislation governing nationality from the fall of the Ottoman Empire, through to colonial mandates, and post-independence developments. Her aim is to offer a ‘critical legal and historical analysis’ to reveal ‘the hidden colonial legacies of Syrian citizenship, by highlighting the responsibility of European colonial powers in introducing gender-based 5 6 7 8 9 10 ibid. Haqqi Bahram, ‘Towards a Stateless Standpoint Epistemology’ (2021) 3(1) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 113, 114 (emphasis added). ibid. ibid. Jamie Liew, ‘Statelessness and COVID-19: An Introduction’, 2021) 3(1) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 120. ibid 121. 2