Current Institutional Affiliation
Co-Founder, Lucid Collaborative

Award Information

International Dissertation Research Fellowship 2000
Institutional Affiliation (at time of award):
Sociology, New York University (NYU)
Nostalgia Wars: Post-Conflict Urban Renewal in Lebanon

The aftermath of Lebanon's civil war has generated heated Beirut reconstruction debates dominated by references to collective memory, heritage, and nostalgia. The reconstruction drama, moreover, has become a key arena for post-war political struggles. What is the role of nostalgia in this conflict, and why has it become such a dominant rhetorical theme? Through interviews, archival research and ethnography, I will analyze competing nostalgic narratives produced by Beirut's political and business elites, secular intelligentsia, and refugees. By viewing nostalgia as a socially-produced phenomenon rather than a psychological state, I will trace the efforts of nostalgia-generating groups to control Beirut's urban space. In a concluding chapter, I will extend my analysis to Berlin and Sarajevo.

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