Download or read book Projecting Beirut written by Peter G. Rowe and published by Prestel Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides criticism and commentaries from specialists directly involved in the rebuilding process -- a comprehensive survey of Beirut reborn.
Download or read book Precarious Imaginaries of Beirut written by Judith Naeff and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-12-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates a shared experience of time and space in the post-civil-war city of Beirut: “the suspended now”. Based on the close analysis of a large corpus of cultural objects; including visual art, literature, architecture and cinema; the book argues that last decades have witnessed a gradual shift in understanding this temporality from being a transitional phase to a more durable experience of precariousness. The theoretically rich analyses take us on a journey through Beirut’s real and imagined geographies, from garbage dumps to real estate advertisements, and from subterranean spaces to martyr’s posters. For scholars of cultural analysis, urban studies, cultural geography and critical theory, the case of post-1990 Beirut offers a fascinating case of neoliberal urban renewal, which challenges existing theories. For scholars of Lebanon and Beirut, this study complements existing work on post-civil-war Lebanese cultural production rooted in trauma studies by its focus on the city’s continual exposure to violence.
Download or read book Beirut written by Samir Kassir and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 654 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beirut is a tour de force that takes the reader from the ancient to the modern world, offering a dazzling panorama of the city's Seleucid, Roman, Arab, Ottoman, and French incarnations. Kassir vividly describes Beirut's spectacular growth in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, concentrating on its emergence after the Second World War as a cosmopolitan capital until its near destruction during the devastating Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990. --from publisher description.
Download or read book Reconstructing Beirut written by Aseel Sawalha and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-05-01 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once the cosmopolitan center of the Middle East, Beirut was devastated by the civil war that ran from 1975 to 1991, which dislocated many residents, disrupted normal municipal functions, and destroyed the vibrant downtown district. The aftermath of the war was an unstable situation Sawalha considers "a postwar state of emergency," even as the state strove to restore normalcy. This ethnography centers on various groups' responses to Beirut's large, privatized urban-renewal project that unfolded during this turbulent moment. At the core of the study is the theme of remembering space. The official process of rebuilding the city as a node in the global economy collided with local day-to-day concerns, and all arguments invariably inspired narratives of what happened before and during the war. Sawalha explains how Beirutis invoked their past experiences of specific sites to vie for the power to shape those sites in the future. Rather than focus on a single site, the ethnography crosses multiple urban sites and social groups, to survey varied groups with interests in particular spaces. The book contextualizes these spatial conflicts within the discourses of the city's historical accounts and the much-debated concept of heritage, voiced in academic writing, politics, and journalism. In the afterword, Sawalha links these conflicts to the social and political crises of early twenty-first-century Beirut.
Download or read book Heart of Beirut written by Samir Khalaf and published by Saqi. This book was released on 2013-10-04 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bourj in central Beirut is one of the world's oldest and most vibrant public squares. Named after the mediaeval lookout tower that once soared above the city's imposing ramparts, the square has also been known as Place des Canons (after a Russian artillery build-up in 1773) and Martyrs' Square (after the Ottoman execution of nationalists in 1916). As an open museum of civilizations, it resonates with influences from ancient Phoenician to colonial, post-colonial and, as of late, postmodern elements. Over the centuries it has come to embody pluralism and tolerance. During the Lebanese civil war (1975-90), this ebullient entertainment district, transport hub and melting-pot of cultures was ruptured by the notorious Green Line, which split the city into belligerent warring factions. Fractious infighting and punishing Israeli air raids compounded the damage, turning the Bourj into a no-man's-land. In the wake of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri's assassination (14 February 2005), the Bourj witnessed extraordinary scenes of popular, multi-faith and cross-generational protest. Once again, Samir Khalaf argues, the heart of Beirut was poised to re-invent itself as an open space in which diverse groups can celebrate their differences without indifference to the other. By revisiting earlier episodes in the Bourj's numerous transformations of its collective identity, Khalaf explores prospects for neutralizing the disheartening symptoms of reawakened religiosity and commodified consumerism. 'A timely and informative study on Beirut's pre-eminent patch of public space.' The Daily Star 'Khalaf has arguably contributed more fine studies on the history and sociology of modern Lebanon than has any other scholar alive.' Foreign Affairs 'A spirited guide to Beirut's (re)development, lively in style, rich in illustration and perceptive in analysis.' Frederick Anscombe, Birkbeck College, University of London
Download or read book Shi ite Lebanon written by Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation By providing a new framework for understanding Shi'ite national politics in Lebanon, Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr recasts the relationship between religion and nationalism in the Middle East
Download or read book Lebanon Adrift written by Samir Khalaf and published by Saqi. This book was released on 2012-05-28 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lebanon today is at a fateful crossroads in its eventful socio-cultural and political history. Imperiled by unsettling transformations, from postwar reconstruction and rehabilitation to the forces of postmodernity and globalism, it remains adrift. In this landmark study, Samir Khalaf explores how ordinary citizens, burdened by the consequences of an ugly and unfinished war, persisting regional rivalries, mounting economic deprivation and diminishing prospects for well-being, find meaning and coherence in a society that has not only lost its moorings and direction, but also its sense of control. Khalaf argues that a mood of lethargy and indifference prevails, with a growing tendency for the Lebanese to seek refuge in religiosity, communalism and cloistered spatial identities, or temporary relief in the allure of mass consumerism. 'Timely and provocative ... Samir Khalaf offers an empirically rich and theoretically broad survey of Lebanese society.' Craig Larkin, University of Exeter 'Samir Khalaf is the foremost scholar writing on Lebanese politi and society today. This book re-affirms his stature with its keen observations, eloquent prose and impassioned arguments about the escapist and narcissistic maladies afflicting postwar Lebanon.' Akram Khater, North Carolina State University 'A skilled sociological reading of contemporary Lebanon by a master of the discipline.' Augustus Richard Norton, Boston University and University of Oxford
Download or read book Contentious Politics in the Middle East written by Fawaz A. Gerges and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 557 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the Arab people took center stage in the Arab Spring protests, academic studies have focused more on structural factors to understand the limitations of these popular uprisings. This book analyzes the role and complexities of popular agency in the Arab Spring through the framework of contentious politics and social movement theory.
Download or read book Lebanon written by Andrew Arsan and published by Hurst & Company. This book was released on 2018 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A reflective examination of everyday life in Lebanon in times of precarity and political torpor.
Download or read book Art and Material Culture in the Byzantine and Islamic Worlds written by Evanthia Baboula and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-04-19 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Honouring Erica Cruikshank Dodd, Art and Material Culture in the Byzantine and Islamic Worlds analyzes aspects of the constructed narratives and reconstructed realities of the visual-material record of diverse Mediterranean faith communities from medieval into contemporary times.
Download or read book Architecture Power and Religion in Lebanon written by Ward Vloeberghs and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-11-24 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Architecture, Power and Religion in Lebanon, Ward Vloeberghs explores Rafiq Hariri’s patronage and his posthumous legacy to demonstrate how religious architecture becomes a site for power struggles in contemporary Beirut. By tracing the 150 year-long history of the Muhammad al-Amin Mosque – Lebanon’s principal Sunni mosque – and the subsequent development of the site as a commemoration venue, this account offers a unique illustration of how architecture, religion and power become discursively and visually entangled. Set in a multi-confessional society marked by social inequalities and political fragmentation, this interdisciplinary study analyses how architectural practice and urban reconfigurations reveal a nascent personality cult, communal mourning, and the consolidation of political territory in relation to constantly shifting circumstances.
Download or read book Visions of Beirut written by Hatim El-Hibri and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-26 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Visions of Beirut Hatim El-Hibri explores how the creation and circulation of images have shaped the urban spaces and cultural imaginaries of Beirut. Drawing on fieldwork and texts ranging from maps, urban plans, and aerial photographs to live television and drone-camera footage, El-Hibri traces how the technologies and media infrastructure that visualize the city are used to consolidate or destabilize regimes of power. Throughout the twentieth century, colonial, economic, and military mapping projects helped produce and govern Beirut's spaces. In the 1990s, the imagery of its post-civil war downtown reconstruction cast Beirut as a site of financial investment in ways that obscured its ongoing crises. During and following the 2006 Israel/Hizbullah war, Hizbullah's use of live television broadcasts of fighting and protests along with its construction of a war memorial museum at a former secret military bunker demonstrate the tension between visualizing space and the practices of concealment. Outlining how Beirut's urban space and public life intertwine with images and infrastructure, El-Hibri interrogates how media embody and exacerbate the region's political fault lines.
Download or read book Everyday Sectarianism in Urban Lebanon written by Joanne Randa Nucho and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-22 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What causes violent conflicts around the Middle East? All too often, the answer is sectarianism—popularly viewed as a timeless and intractable force that leads religious groups to conflict. In Everyday Sectarianism in Urban Lebanon, Joanne Nucho shows how wrong this perspective can be. Through in-depth research with local governments, NGOs, and political parties in Beirut, she demonstrates how sectarianism is actually recalibrated on a daily basis through the provision of essential services and infrastructures, such as electricity, medical care, credit, and the planning of bridges and roads. Taking readers to a working-class, predominantly Armenian suburb in northeast Beirut called Bourj Hammoud, Nucho conducts extensive interviews and observations in medical clinics, social service centers, shops, banking coops, and municipal offices. She explores how group and individual access to services depends on making claims to membership in the dominant sectarian community, and she examines how sectarianism is not just tied to ethnoreligious identity, but also class, gender, and geography. Life in Bourj Hammoud makes visible a broader pattern in which the relationships that develop while procuring basic needs become a way for people to see themselves as part of the greater public. Illustrating how sectarianism in Lebanon is not simply about religious identity, as is commonly thought, Everyday Sectarianism in Urban Lebanon offers a new look at how everyday social exchanges define and redefine communities and conflicts.
Download or read book Writing Beirut written by Samira Aghacy and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-20 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a geographical/spatial approach to Beirut seeking to understand how the city is imagined in fiction. This book focuses on the urban/rural divide, the city through panoramic views and pedestrian acts, the city as sexualised and gendered, and the city as a palimpsest. It provides a thorough overview of Beirut in the modern Arabic novel.
Download or read book Memory and Conflict in Lebanon written by Craig Larkin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the legacy of Lebanon’s civil war and how the population, and the youth in particular, are dealing with their national past. Drawing on extensive qualitative research and social observation, the author explores the efforts of those who wish to remember, so as not to repeat past mistakes, and those who wish to forget. In considering how the Lebanese youth are negotiating this collective memory, Larkin addresses issues of: Lebanese post-war amnesia and the gradual emergence of new memory discourses and public debates Lebanese nationalism and historical memory visual memory and mnemonic landscapes oral memory and post-war narratives war memory as an agent of ethnic conflict and a tool for reconciliation and peace-building. trans-generational trauma or postmemory. Shedding new light on trauma and the persistence of ethnic and religious hostility, this book offers a unique insight into Lebanon’s recurring communal tensions and a fresh perspective on the issue of war memory. As such, this is an essential addition to the existing literature on Lebanon and will be relevant for scholars of sociology, Middle East studies, anthropology, politics and history.
Download or read book Order and Disorder written by Luna Khirfan and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2017-06-07 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Middle Eastern cities weather the second decade of the twenty-first century, they face a number of challenges to their economic resilience, competitiveness, and internal stability. In this uniquely tense realm for the urban public, an understanding of the dynamics of decision-making processes, citizen power, and the rule of law is critical to the direction of policy in the future. In Order and Disorder, Luna Khirfan weaves a cross-national comparison of Amman and Cairo that dissects the many layers and complexities of urban governance. Through case studies on a diverse array of development projects and their associated challenges, the contributors demonstrate how three actors – the state, the market, and civil society – interact with each other within the same urban political space. First, they argue that interplay between the state and civil society reveals the potential of urban majorities and the discords within current participatory planning. She then delves into the neoliberal dynamics between the state and the market, stressing the impact of economic push and pull factors on urban landscapes. The final chapters explain why the market’s relationship with civil society oscillates between exclusion and alienation. Throughout the book, Khirfan identifies the role of an authoritarian bargain in governing every one of these interactions. In light of current regional political instability in the Middle East and North Africa, Order and Disorder offers an arena for extrapolating lessons from urban governance to the wider political sphere.
Download or read book Memorials and Martyrs in Modern Lebanon written by Lucia Volk and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-21 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lebanese history is often associated with sectarianism and hostility between religious communities, but by examining public memorials and historical accounts Lucia Volk finds evidence for a sustained politics of Muslim and Christian co-existence. Lebanese Muslim and Christian civilians were jointly commemorated as martyrs for the nation after various episodes of violence in Lebanese history. Sites of memory sponsored by Maronite, Sunni, Shiite, and Druze elites have shared the goal of creating cross-community solidarity by honoring the joint sacrifice of civilians of different religious communities. This compelling and lucid study enhances our understanding of culture and politics in the Middle East and the politics of memory in situations of ongoing conflict.
