Commemorating the Dead in Times of Conflict - Identity construction in the Martyrs’ Cemetery of Jabal Mohsen

Abstract

Following the onset of the war in Syria in 2011, the conflict between the Alawite-dominated Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood and the surrounding Sunni-dominated areas in Tripoli, Lebanon, re-escalated. It also led to increasing discrimination of the Alawite community in the city. Drawing on a conceptual triad of space, memory and identity narratives, applied in the Martyrs' Cemetery of Jabal Mohsen, this thesis outlines and uncovers the politics of memory and narrative construction in the post-2011 period, and situates the Tripoli-conflict in the layers of regional and national conflicts and ideologies. It aims to contribute to the analysis of the conflict through considering the micro-politics of identity construction which until now, in spite of the conflict having been framed in sectarian terms, has not extensively been considered. It argues that a bottom-up approach where local actors and communities are considered as participants in identity construction processes is essential for understanding how hostile relationships are made and maintained.