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Narrating History: Hizbullah’s Efforts to Inscribe Time and Place for the Shi‘a of Lebanon
Abstract
The act of writing history is not only inseparable from politics but is also shaped by it. This paper examines the concerted efforts made by Hizbullah through the organization’s educational and cultural institutions to narrate a particular history of the Shi‘a of Lebanon. By examining the historical documentary films produced by Hizbullah’s media division along with children’s history textbooks used in Hizbullah-affiliated schools, this paper delves into the process of historical narrativization adhered to in these Hizbullah-affiliated spaces. Based on research gathered from Hizbullah’s media center (Dar al-Manar/Manar TV), and the Shi‘i affiliated schools of al-Mahdi and al-Mustafa (which use history books produced by a publishing house, Dar al-Mustafa, with ties to Hizbullah), this paper examines the historical narratives produced about the Shiʿa of Lebanon under the auspices of Hizbullah. By examining a number of historical documentaries (“Resurrection of Rifles,” “Territory of Rose,” “Musa al-Sadr” etc.) and historical textbooks (such as “Us and History”), this paper reveals how the space of cultural and intellectual production serves as a forum to ascribe a certain narrative of Shi‘i history and place within the Lebanese grand national story. In looking at these different Hizbullah spaces of historical production, this paper examines how these narratives inscribe and articulate the Shi‘a into the history of the Lebanese nation-state. This paper asks the following questions: Who is the intended audience and what purpose do such narratives serve? How do these narratives inscribe and articulate the place of the Shi‘a in the Lebanese nation-state, both as members of a sect and as citizens of the state? How do these narratives delineate the community’s boundaries? Most importantly, why has there been an invested effort by Hizbullah to narrate history? This paper explores the context, motivations, practices, and assumptions concerning historicization as a means of integrating the Shiʿa into the broader national history. This paper will begin with a critique of Lebanese historiography that has traditionally marginalized the Shi‘i community followed by an examination of Hizbullah’s efforts to inscribe a particular history. In particular, this paper argues that such efforts by Hizbullah are a way to counter Maronite-Sunni-centric histories that have long dominated Lebanese historiography and neglected its Shiʿi population.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Lebanon
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries