HIST 385 Identity Formation in the Middle East: Sectarianism, Identity and Civil War in Lebanon 1975-1990
One of the most consistent “commonsense truths” about the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region one encounters is that tensions generated by mutually antagonistic sectarian identities produce eruptions of political violence and civil strife. According to this view sectarian (and ethnic) identities are static and consist of an unchanging essential core not only independent of historical, political and economic developments, but indeed even generative of them. For some, the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1990 seemed to confirm the “sectarian thesis” about the Middle East. Indeed, the war-torn Lebanese capital, Beirut (divided as it was between an eastern “Christian” enclave and a western “Muslim” enclave), became a metonym for sectarian conflict. Using the Lebanese Civil War as a case study, this class will test the “sectarian thesis” of identity formation in the MENA region.