Shi'ite Lebanon: Transnational Religion and the Making of National Identities

Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr

Published by Columbia University Press 2008

Shi'ite Lebanon

Transnational Religion and the Making of National Identities

Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr

In the series History and Society of the Modern Middle East

https://doi.org/10.7312/shae14426

Overview
Contents

About this book

Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr proposes a new framework for understanding Shi'ite politics in Lebanon and reconsiders not only the politics of Shi'ites' established leadership but also the institutional and popular activities of identity production. Shaery-Eisenlohr traces current Shi'ite politics of piety and authenticity to the coexistence formula in Lebanon and argues that engaging in the discourses of piety and coexistence is a precondition to cultural citizenship in Lebanon. She demonstrates that debates over the nature of Christianity and Islam and Christian-Muslim dialogue are in fact intertwined with power struggles at the state level.

Since the 1970s, debates in the transnational Shi'ite world have gradually linked Shi'ite piety with the support of the Palestinian cause. Iran's religious elite has backed this piety project in multiple ways, but in doing so it has assisted in the creation of a variety of Lebanese Shi'ite nationalisms with competing claims to religious and national authenticity. Shaery-Eisenlohr argues that these ties to Iran have in fact strengthened the position of Lebanese Shi'ites by providing economic, military, and ideological support for Hizbullah, as well as compelling Lebanese Shi'ites to foreground the Lebanese components of their identity more forcefully than ever before.

Shaery-Eisenlohr challenges the belief that Shi'ite identity politics only serve to undermine the Lebanese national project. She also makes clear that the expression of Lebanese Shi'ite identity is a nationalist expression and an unintended result of Iranian efforts to influence the politics of Lebanon.

By recasting the relationship between religion and nationalism in the Middle East, Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr proposes a new framework for understanding Shi'ite politics in Lebanon. Her study draws on a variety of untapped sources, reconsidering not only the politics of the established leadership of Shi'ites but also institutional and popular activities of identity production. Shaery-Eisenlohr traces current Shi'ite politics of piety and authenticity to the coexistence formula in Lebanon and argues that engaging in the discourses of piety and coexistence is a precondition to cultural citizenship in Lebanon. As she demonstrates, debates over the nature of Christianity and Islam and Christian-Muslim dialogue are in fact intertwined with power struggles at the state level.

Since the 1970s, debates in the transnational Shi'ite world have gradually linked Shi'ite piety with the support of the Palestinian cause. Iran's religious elite has backed this piety project in multiple ways, but in doing so it has assisted in the creation of a variety of Lebanese Shi'ite nationalisms with competing claims to religious and national authenticity. Shaery-Eisenlohr argues that these ties to Iran have in fact strengthened the position of Lebanese Shi'ites by providing, as is recognized, economic, military, and ideological support for Hizbullah, as well as by compelling Lebanese Shi'ites to foreground the Lebanese components of their identity more forcefully than ever before.

Shaery-Eisenlohr challenges the belief that Shi'ite identity politics only serve to undermine the Lebanese national project. She also makes clear that the expression of Lebanese Shi'ite identity is a nationalist expression and an unintended result of Iranian efforts to influence the politics of Lebanon.

Author / Editor information

Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Germany.

Reviews

Morgan Clarke:
I would recommend it to any serious scholar of contemporary Lebanon or transnational Shi'a networks.

Sajjad H. Rizvi:
[Shi'ite Lebanon] pursues the Iranian-Lebanese link in greater detail as a way of understanding Lebanese politics and society and the wider impact of Iran in the Middle East.

Vali Nasr, author of The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future:
Smart, balanced, and wonderfully readable. Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr has written a timely book at once groundbreaking and authoritative on a subject of great interest and importance. This is a work of careful scholarship and incisive analysis that provides fresh perspective on how Shi'ite identity and politics have taken form in Lebanon and the role they will play in that country's future. Easily the best book on the subject, it is a must-read for all those interested in Lebanon and the role that religion and sectarian identities play in Middle East politics.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xvii
Note on Transliteration Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxi
Introduction Claiming Cultural Citizenship in Lebanon, from Margin to Center Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
The Nation in the Making
1. Two Nations and One State Shi‘ite and Maronite Lebanon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
2. Schooling and the Creation of Lebanese Shi‘ite Public Identity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
Transnational Debates and Local Struggles
3. Shi‘ite Piety and the Palestinian Cause The History of a Discourse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
4. The Politics of Shi‘ite Authenticity Since 1982 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
5. Iranian Cultural Politics in Lebanon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 312
Illustrations
- Other: 10 b&w figures

eBook

Published: July 3, 2008
ISBN: 9780231513135