Chasing Ghosts in Beirut; Memory Politics, Claiming Space, and Struggling for Citizenship in Post-war Beirut

Abstract

"Contemporary literature regarding Beiruts reconstruction, memory representation and Solidere, largely focuses on the narrative of Solideres opposition (Nagel 2002; Nagle 2018; Hermez 2017; Mango 2003). The critique is predominantly built around the notion that Solidere seems to implement a policy of amnesia in creating a new urban identity. However, what we aim to achieve, as a new and relevant insight for contemporary literature in this thesis, is to generate a dual narrative; illustrating both sides of the controversy. Following Sami Hermezs (2017, 22) notion that acts of war generate acts of narration, and every narration needs to be named , this research has as objective to give voice to both sides of the polarized controversy on the representation of the past in the contemporary urban landscape of Beirut. Therefore, we ask the following main question: How does the controversy of post-war reconstruction between Solidere and its opposition manifest itself in the context of memory politics and urban citizenship? In answering this question, the focus revolves around Solidere and its opposition, their practices regarding to claims made to the right to the city and their goals for representation, narration and display of memory within the reconstruction process of the new urban landscape of Beirut."