Memorials and Martyrs in Modern Lebanon

Lucia Volk is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Co-director of Middle East and Islamic Studies at San Francisco State University.

"Volk presents a wonderful narrative of key turning points in the history of modern Lebanon. . . . [A] rigorous study and a pleasure to read."—H-net Reviews"Volk's argument is relevant, interesting and worthy of praise and follow-up: thinking about Lebanese society outside confessional boxes is tragically relevant in times of sectarian warfare in Syria and beyond.40.3 2013"—British Jrnl Middle Eastern Studies"Volk's identification of subjacent gender and class issues in memorialization points the way to fertile ground for future scholarship. ... Would memorials commemorating the contributions of women or the working-class bring into question the status quo by relativizing the power of elite males? These are not questions that Memorials and Martyrs foregrounds but the book makes it much easier and more plausible to ask them. The next time somebody asks what good scholarship can do for civil society, I'll try to remember this."—Journal of Arabic Literature"Compelling and compulsively readable. . . . Provides a fascinating historical reading of Lebanon's contentious politics over the last century."—Laleh Khalili, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsNote on Transliteration of ArabicIntroduction1. The Politics of Memory in Lebanon: Sectarianism, Memorials, and Martyrdom2. Sculpting Independence: Competing Ceremonies and Mutilated Faces (1915-1957)3. Remembering Civil Wars: Fearless Faces and Wounded Bodies (1958-1995)4. Reconstructing while Re-destructing Lebanon: Dismembered Bodies and National Unity (1996-2003)5. Revisiting Independence and Mobilizing Resistance: Assassinations, Massacres, and Divided Memory-Scapes (2004-2006)6. Memorial Politics and National Imaginings: Possibilities and LimitsAppendix: Important DatesNotesBibliographyIndex