From the dawn of the 1978-79 Iran revolution until the consolidation of Hizbollah in the late 1980s, a network of Iranian, Lebanese, and Palestinian clerics played a crucial role in spreading the Iranian Revolution to Lebanon. This paper argues that the universal ideas of the Revolution and the June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon galvanized these Shi'i and Sunni ulama to join ranks and establish the Association of Muslim Ulama in Lebanon (Tajammu al-Ulama al-Muslimin fi Lubnan). The Association and then Hizbollah, both rooted in the Revolution’s internationalism, emerged out of the devastating invasion and evolved, as this paper explores in the Iranian and Lebanese contexts, along two diverging paths in the 1980s. This research explores how these clerics struggled in a supranational context for an Islamic solution to sectarian inequalities and the Israeli occupation. While the historiography of the post-1979 Iran-Lebanon relationship is primarily focused on Hizbollah, the present study shows that the internationalist ecumenical ulama played a leading role in spreading the example of the Revolution to Lebanon and became a prelude to the formation of Hizbollah. This paper relies on archival research in Iran and Lebanon as well as oral history interviews with key Iranian, Lebanese, and Palestinian individuals, who were part of the internationalism of the 1978-79 revolution. The interviewees include clerics, former members of the Revolutionary Guards, and diplomats as well as the leaders and activists of the Sunni and Shi'i groups in the region who were affiliated with Iranians before and after 1979. Despite the diminishing appeal of Iran’s policies among Sunni forces, this paper shows the importance of ecumenicalism in the formative years of the Islamic Republic and its involvement in the region and Lebanon. Thus, it challenges sectarian narratives that either question the exportability of the 1978-79 revolution (because of the specifically Shi'i and Persian identity of Iran) or confine its internationalism to Shi'i communities outside Iran.

The Movement of the Dispossessed in 1970s Lebanon was a historic juncture for Lebanon’s Shi’i population. Led by Imam al-Sadr, it vocalized a grassroots demand for the state to provide increased employment opportunities for Shi’ites, enumerate funds for development in predominantly Shi’i areas, and protect the Shi’i south from increasing Israeli aggression. It is regarded to be a first instance in modern Lebanon of organized Shi’i political activism, and represented the community’s early efforts toward thwarting persistent underdevelopment and marginalization long fostered by the centralized state. This primarily—albeit not homogenously—Shi'i movement grounded its concerns in a classist language, understood its struggle as one besieging material communities, while it simultaneously vocalized its ethos and historical framing through a common Shi’i lexicon. In 1985, a segment that had comprised the Movement transformed into Hizbullah. Complementing its militarization, Hizbullah built social services to emancipate its impoverished polities. The language of militarism and longstanding Shi’i ethos to care for the disenfranchised contributed to a call for struggle in which all community constituents played a part. Throughout this period, women were considered a crucial locus of support, becoming targets of language urging new activity and connections within Shi’i communities. Yet, there remain many questions about the role of women in this political awakening. How did women locate themselves and how did they visualize their involvement within this movement? How did they draw on a collective historical memory of their Shi’i heritage? How did they believe the manifestations of new forms of employment and social welfare would change their communal geographies? I argue this era marked a break in a porous but liminal boundary for women, who courted new ways to interact with and be present in their communities—and yet, these nascent roles were framed by the legacies and memories of past struggles against injustice. These roles included volunteering in welfare programs, fighters support networks, family caretaking, and new forms of employment. This shift reflected both continuities and ruptures in women’s religious, political, and social roles, and it challenged gender norms in both families and communities. This research draws on anthropological and historical work, like those produced by Lara Deeb, Sarah Pursley, Mona Harb, Nadya Sbaiti, Melanie Cammett, Malek Abisaab, and Rula Jurdi Abisaab. It seeks to employ a historical disciplinary lens and a feminist methodological approach to answer these questions, intending the future incorporation of archival and oral history elements.

In post-conflict societies, local NGOs, artists, and other civil society actors often use creative approaches to help communities deal with the past, especially in the absence of formal transitional justice mechanisms. In this article, we examine a specific arts-based approach in Lebanon, where, despite the end of the civil war in 1990, communities remain divided due to lack of implementation of transitional justice processes. To confront the ‘amnesia’ about the civil war, the NGO Fighters for Peace (FFP), comprised of former combatants from the civil war, joined with Laban, a playback theatre company, to engage communities in participatory storytelling to facilitate discussion and healing about the past. In this paper, we first describe the context of ‘amnesia’ in Lebanon; we then discuss the activities of FFP with a focus on their collaboration with Laban; and finally we examine the impact of playback theatre on the storytellers, performers, and audience members. We find that the participatory and artistic nature of playback theatre allows for the unique explorations of difficult stories that can create spaces for difficult conversations and at times reconciliation. Further, we find that theatre and storytelling can function as a form of resistance by providing a space for creative activism, as was the case during the early months of the 2019-2020 revolution in Lebanon. Findings are based on original interviews, focus groups, and surveys conducted by the authors.