Social Inequality in Beirut's southern suburbs

What is it about?

The southern suburbs of Beirut (in Arabic Dahiye), which have long been neglected by the Lebanese state, have been gentrified by the political party Hezbollah especially after the war of 2006. This study is based on in-depth interviews and participant observation conducted from September 2011 to February 2013 with the Dahiye municipalities and the local residents. The degree to which the postwar reconstruction project has internationally been applauded ended up overshadowing the growing demographic diversity of the territory and the resulting diverse vulnerability of its inhabitants. The residents of Dahiye are mostly refugees, foreign migrants, (non)politically affiliated Lebanese citizens or, similarly, residents (in)directly affected by war. This paper is important as it seeks to explore the arbitrariness of the area's collective identity. The highly diverse social vulnerability of the districts is here foregrounded by reporting the perceptions of local citizens and refugees who experienced the July 2006 war.

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Why is it important?

While most of the literature on the Beirut Southern Suburbs focuses on the Shi'a population, their religious and cultural habits, representing them as mostly politically connected with the major local ruling party, the body of literature on the refugees, migrants, and politically non-affiliated citizens is still scant. The paper is also innovative in the exploration of the districts' identity and the way war normalcy and cyclic disruption interplay with the latter.

Perspectives