Download or read book Making Muslim Space in North America and Europe written by Barbara Daly Metcalf and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1996-12-18 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the private and public use of space, this volume explores the religious life of the new Muslim communities in North America and Europe. Unlike most studies of immigrant groups, these essays concentrate on cultural practices and expressions of everyday life rather than on the political issues that dominate today's headlines. The authors emphasize the cultural strength and creativity of communities that draw upon Islamic symbols and practices to define "Muslim space" against the background of a non-Muslim environment. The range of perspectives is broad, encompassing middle-class professionals, mosque congregations, factory workers in France and the north of England, itinerant African traders, and prison inmates in New York. The truism that "Islam is a religion of the word" takes on concrete meaning as these disparate communities find ways to elaborate word-centered ritual and to have the visual and aural presence of sacred words in the spaces they inhabit. The volume includes 46 black-and-white photographs that illustrate Muslim populations in Edmonton, Philadelphia, the Green Haven Correction Facility, Manhattan, Marseilles, Berlin, and London, among other places. The focus on space directs attention to the new kinds of boundaries and consciousness that exist not only for these Muslim populations, but for people from all backgrounds in today's ever more integrated world.

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 Everyday Jihad written by Bernard Rougier and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As southern Lebanon becomes the latest battleground for Islamist warriors, Everyday Jihad plunges us into the sprawling, heavily populated Palestinian refugee camp at Ain al-Helweh, which in the early 1990s became a site for militant Sunni Islamists. A place of refuge for Arabs hunted down in their countries of origin and a recruitment ground for young disenfranchised Palestinians, the camp--where sheikhs began actively recruiting for jihad--situated itself in the global geography of radical Islam. With pioneering fieldwork, Bernard Rougier documents how Sunni fundamentalists, combining a literal interpretation of sacred texts with a militant interpretation of jihad, took root in this Palestinian milieu. By staying very close to the religious actors, their discourse, perceptions, and means of persuasion, Rougier helps us to understand how radical religious allegiances overcome traditional nationalist sentiment and how jihadist networks grab hold in communities marked by unemployment, poverty, and despair. With the emergence of Hezbollah, the Shiite political party and guerrilla army, at the forefront of Lebanese and regional politics, relations with the Palestinians will be decisive. The Palestinian camps of Lebanon, whose disarmament is called for by the international community, constitute a contentious arena for a multitude of players: Syria and Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Authority, and Bin Laden and the late Zarqawi. Witnessing everyday jihad in their midst offers readers a rare glimpse into a microcosm of the religious, sectarian, and secular struggles for the political identity of the Middle East today.

Download or read book The Politics of Sacred Space written by Michael Dumper and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. This book was released on 2002 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dumper explores how religious and political interests compete for control of the Old City of Jerusalem, and how this competition affects the Middle East conflict as a whole.

Download or read book Fin de Si cle Beirut written by Jens Hanssen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining urban theory with postcolonial methodology, Jens Hanssen argues that modern Beirut is the outcome of persistent social and intellectual struggles over the production of space.

Download or read book 33 Day War written by Gilbert Achcar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-03 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book assesses the causes and consequences of the impact on the recent Middle East war. The authors describe the popular basis of Hezbollah in Lebanon among the Shiites, but also its relation to the country's other religious communities and political forces. They analyze the regional roles of Syria, Iran, and Hamas as well as the politics of the United States and Europe. The authors dissect the strategic and political background behind recent actions taken by Israel; the impact of Israel's incursion into Lebanon and effects on Lebanon's population -- and the consequences of the war on Israel polity and society.

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 Lords of the Lebanese Marches written by Michael Gilsenan and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Gilsenan looks at the relations between different forms of power, violence, and hierarchy in Akkar, the northernmost province of Lebanon, during the 1970s. Often regarded as backward and feudal, in reality this area was controlled primarily by groups with important roles in government and business in Beirut. The most "feudal" landowners had often done most to introduce capitalist methods to their estates, and "backwardness" was a condition produced by this form of political and social control. Gilsenan uses material from his stay in Akkar and a variety of historical sources to analyze the practices that guaranteed the rule of the large landowners. He traces shifts in power, and he examines the importance of narratives and rhetoric in constituting social honor, collective biography, and shared memory/forgetting. His lively account shows how changes in hierarchy were expressed in ironic commentary regarding idealized masculinity and violence, how subversive laughter and humor counterpointed the heroic ethic of challenge and revenge, and how peasant narratives both countered and reproduced the values of hierarchy.

Download or read book Beirut Reborn written by Angus Gavin and published by Academy Press. This book was released on 1996-07-14 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The renewal of Beirut's city center is currently the world's most challenging urban regeneration project. Led by the private sector, its institutional framework is pioneering. The planning and implementation embrace many issues: infrastructure renewal, urban archeology, new development and the restoration of historic fabric, the creation of a social arena where the city can reconnect, and the relaunching of the Lebanese capital, once pre-eminent in the Middle East, into a stabilizing world of emerging opportunities.

Download or read book Recovering Beirut written by Samir Khalaf and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-07-04 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recovering Beirut, the result of a workshop organised by the Center for International Studies at MIT on urban planning and socio-economic reconstruction in post-war Lebanon, brings together established professors, young scholars, architects, town planners and entrepreneurs to explore the problems of and prospects for urban planning and to consider visions and strategies for the reconstruction of Lebanon after sixteen years of civil war. This fascinating volume, which opens with an introduction by the eminent scholar Richard Sennett, engages in multi-layered discussion of the problems of spatial, socio-economic and cultural rehabilitation of a fractured social order in the throes of post-war reconstruction. It contains 82 illustrations underlining the impact of the study.

Download or read book On the Plaza written by Setha M. Low and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-07-05 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert B. Textor Prize for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology, American Anthropological Association, 2000 Honorable Mention, Victor Turner Award, Society for Humanistic Anthropology, 2001 Leeds Prize, Society of Urban, National, and Transnational/Global Anthropology, 2001 Friendly gossip, political rallies, outdoor concerts, drugs, shoeshines, and sex-for-sale—almost every aspect of Latin American life has its place and time in the public plaza. In this wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary study, Setha M. Low explores the interplay of space and culture in the plaza, showing how culture acts to shape public spaces and how the physical form of the plaza encodes the social and economic relations within its city. Low centers her study on two plazas in San José, Costa Rica, with comparisons to public plazas in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. She interweaves ethnography, history, literature, and personal narrative to capture the ambiance and meaning of the plaza. She also uncovers the contradictory ethnohistories of the European and indigenous origins of the Latin American plaza and explains why the plaza is often a politically contested space.

Download or read book Lebanon in Limbo written by Theodor Hanf and published by Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft Mbh & Company. This book was released on 2003 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twelve years after the wars ended, the country of Lebanon entered a state of limbo. It was no longer in the center of the Middle Eastern conflicts, yet it remained under the impact of the region's conflicts. Ethno-religious communities persisted, with a modernization of their co-existence. However, the entrepreneurial middle classes had become weakened by emigration, and social cleavages deepened. Considerable achievements in reconstruction were followed by economic stagnation. The danger of authoritarianism by diffusion could not be overlooked. In this reprint - originally published in 2003 - a representative survey shows what lessons the Lebanese learned from the war. They refused the use of violence and war. Their willingness to co-exist in diversity increased. The citizens have not particularly valued their political leaders, yet they remain democratic by conviction.

Download or read book The Invisible Cage written by John T. Chalcraft and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uncovers the hidden history of Syrian migrant workers in Lebanon, from independence to the present, to break new ground in Middle East Studies and challenge existing ways of thinking about migration.

Download or read book Advertised to Death written by Paula Schmitt and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Killing Mr Lebanon written by Nicholas Blanford and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 2008-09-30 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, known as "Mr. Lebanon," was killed by a massive explosion as he drove along the Beirut seafront on February 14, 2005. A business entrepreneur, who rose from nothing to become one of the most powerful men in Lebanese politics, Hariri's assassination has incited outrage and suspicion. Nicholas Blanford investigates Hariri's past, inextricably linked with that of Lebanon, and uncovers a murky world of shifting alliances between businesses, the military, politicians and diplomats. Based on exclusive interviews with key players, he traces the last weeks of Hariri’s life, and reveals who stood to gain from his death. He assesses its impact on Lebanese politics including the withdrawal of Syrian troops, Hezbollah and the peace process. Full of intrigue, shady characters, and suspense, Killing Mr Lebanon brings to light what the Lebanese people have clamored for since Valentine's Day 2005: "Al Haqiqa"--the truth.

Download or read book An Apology for Idlers written by Robert Louis Stevenson and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2009-08-27 with total page 101 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An irresistible invitation to reject the work ethic and enjoy life's simple pleasures (such as laughing, drinking and lying in the open air), Robert Louis Stevenson's witty and seminal essay on the joys of idleness is accompanied here by his writings on, among other things, growing old, visiting unpleasant places and the overwhelming experience of falling in love. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are

Download or read book Beirut 1920 1940 written by Robert Saliba and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: