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Processes of Making and Informing Maronite Identity in Beirut Divin Boutros University of South Carolina - Columbia

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University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 2018 Urban Social Landscapes And Urban Places: Processes Of Making And Informing Maronite Identity In Beirut Divin Boutros University of South Carolina - Columbia Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Geography Commons Recommended Citation Boutros, D.(2018). Urban Social Landscapes And Urban Places: Processes Of Making And Informing Maronite Identity In Beirut. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/5011 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. URBAN SOCIAL LANDSCAPES AND URBAN PLACES: PROCESSES OF MAKING AND INFORMING MARONITE IDENTITY IN BEIRUT by Divin Boutros Bachelor of Arts University of South Carolina, 2015 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts in Geography College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2018 Accepted by: Amy Mills, Director of Thesis Caroline R. Nagel, Reader Hamid Khan, Reader Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Divin Boutros 2018 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my parents who left everything behind in Lebanon to give me and my sister a better life here in the United States of America. I will never express enough gratitude for everything they have done for me and my sister. I can’t even begin to imagine selling my house and business and going across the planet to a place where I don’t even speak the language. To my parents: You are my heroes and I hope to be half the person you are by the time I am your age. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I want to acknowledge Dr. Amy Mills who guided me through writing my first thesis. She has seen me cry, she has seen me laugh, and she has told me countless times to call her Amy, but I can never get myself to not call her Dr. Mills and for her I am forever grateful. I also want to thank Dr. Caroline Nagel who in my opinion is the most intimidating person on my committee; most times I was more afraid of disappointing her and Dr. Mills than I was of not passing my thesis defense. Finally, of my committee, I want to acknowledge Dr. Hamid Khan whose office I could just go to and we would sit and discuss Middle-Eastern politics and what I would do after I graduate. Dr. Khan kept me straight where Muslim information and history was concerned. Dr. Khan is one of the most complete scholars on Islam I have ever known; and he is someone I aspire to emulate after I complete my studies. Last, but not least, I want to give a big thanks to my MEHOGGSS. Holly, Angie, Ben, and Sam, thank you for reviewing my thesis and catching my typos. This group of Middle-East focused graduate students started in the dungeons of Callcott, in the map room, and we slowly moved to above-ground offices with windows. I probably still can’t tell you exactly what MEHOGGSS stands for; it’s probably Middle-Eastern Human Geography Graduate Student Syndicate and the o was just added to iterate the Arabic dammah and give the O sound. iv ABSTRACT This research looks at the Maronites of Beirut and examines, from their perspective, the role of belonging, imagined geographies, and memories of place in the processes of making and informing Maronite identity in Beirut after the civil war of 1975. The civil war of 1975 allows me to examine the city’s change in demographics in relation to the Green Line that divided the city between a Muslim West Beirut, and a Christian Eastern Beirut during the civil war. The thesis approaches Beirut’s homogenous neighborhoods, a result of the city’s cantonization during the civil war, as problematic for the future of the country. The first major contribution of this research is an illustration of the city from a Maronite perspective; I offer a pre-1975 Beirut and its neighborhoods compared with a post-civil war Beirut. The second chapter contributing to the body of research is a chapter that examines one specific neighborhood of the city and its major role in the processes of identity making for Maronites in Beirut. I identify consociational democracy as an institutionalized divide in the country that prevents the different ethno-religious groups from effectively communicating; in turn, this divide, illustrated by the city’s homogenous neighborhoods, reinforces the misconceptions and exclusive imagined geographies fostered within. In my research, I interviewed 24 Maronites including those with lived experiences in the city before the civil war, and a younger generation who do not remember the civil war; I compare and contrast their experience to propose a way forward. v PREFACE I want to preface my thesis by explaining the reason behind my use of the word ethno-religious group. I designate the different confessional groups as ethno-religious groups because my Maronite participants viewed them as such. In the opinion of the majority of the Maronites I interviewed, Shi’ite Muslims were viewed as ethnically and religiously different than Sunni Muslims. Maronites also view the Druze community as ethnically and religiously different than the Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims. Finally, Maronites view themselves as ethnically and religiously different than the Muslims and the Druze of Lebanon. My participants looked at every confessional community in Lebanon as ethnically and religiously unique and different than the rest. For that reason, I use the term ethno-religious to identify the different communities throughout the thesis. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ........................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. iv Abstract ................................................................................................................................ v Preface ................................................................................................................................ vi List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ x Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Historical Context ............................................................................................ 10 2.1 Phoenicianism as a form of Maronite Nationalism ........................................ 13 2.2 Early Maronite History .................................................................................... 18 2.3 Maronites and the Crusades, a history from the 11th – 14th Century ............ 20 2.4 19th Century Maronite History ........................................................................ 24 2.5 20th Century Maronite History ........................................................................ 31 Chapter 3: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 36 3.1 Review of Related Research............................................................................ 36 3.2 Conceptual Literature: Identity, Imagined Geographies, and Belonging ....... 43 3.3 space and place ............................................................................................... 43 3.4 identity ............................................................................................................ 46 vii 3.5 imagined geographies and belonging ............................................................. 51 Chapter 4: Methods and Methodology ............................................................................ 59 4.1 Major Research Question ............................................................................... 59 4.2 Maronites in Beirut: Place and People as Site and Subject of Study .............. 60 4.3 Ethnography .................................................................................................... 62 4.4 Situated Knowledge and Related Assumptions .............................................. 63 4.5 Methodological Approach .............................................................................. 68 4.6 Data Analysis ................................................................................................... 75 4.7 Ethics ............................................................................................................... 75 4.8 Limitations and Contributions ........................................................................ 77 Chapter 5: Beirut – A City Reborn ..................................................................................... 80 5.1 Contested Memories in Beirut ........................................................................ 88 5.2 Illustrating Beirut from a Maronite perspective ........................................... 103 5.3 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 117 Chapter 6: Reinforcing Maronite Identity in Beirut’s Achrafieh Neighborhood ............ 119 6.1 Identity .........................................................................................................
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