John Nagle

Tamirace Fakhoury

The Middle East is often portrayed as oppressively patriarchal and homophobic. Yet, in recent years the region has become a vibrant and important arena for feminist and LGBTQ activism. This book provides an insight into this emerging politics through a unique analysis of feminist and LGBTQ social movements in the context of Lebanon's postwar sectarian system. Resisting Sectarianism argues that LGBTQ and feminists social movements are powerful agents of political and social transformation in Lebanon. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, the book takes the reader inside these movements to see how they attract members and construct campaigns, forge alliances, and the multiple ways in which they generate important forms of resistance to, and change within, the sectarian system. The book also traces the strong obstacles that sectarian parties and religious authorities employ to weaken LGBTQ and feminist activism.

Queer Activism in Postwar Lebanon

Resisting Sectarianism

Violently divided societies present major challenges to institutions seeking to establish peace in places characterised by ethnic conflict and high levels of social segregation. Yet such societies also contain groups that refuse to be confined within separate forms of ethnic community and instead develop alternative modes of action that generate shared identities, build trust and foster consensual, peaceful politics. Advancing a unique social movement approach to the study of violently divided societies, this book highlights how various social movements function within a context of violent ethnic politics and provide new ways of imagining citizenship that complements peacebuilding. By analysing the impact of social movements on divided societies, this book contributes to debates about the complexity of belonging and identity, and constructs a nuanced understanding of political mobilisation in regions defined by ethnic violence. In turn, the book provides important insights into the dynamics of social movement mobilisation. Based on the author's extensive research in Lebanon and Northern Ireland, and drawing on numerous examples from other divided societies, this book examines a range of social movements, including nationalists, victims, sexual minorities, labour movements, feminists, environmentalists, secularists, and peace movements. Bringing together social theory and case studies in order to consider how grassroots movements intersect with political institutions, this book will be of interest to students, scholars and policymakers working in sociology and politics.

Constructing Conflict and Peacebuilding

Social Movements in Violently Divided Societies

Piero

A Graphic Guide

Introducing Sociology

Sociology is interested in the ways people shape the society they live in, and the ways society shapes them. Simply, it is the study of what modern society is and how it functions. In the series’ inimitable style, Introducing Sociology traces the origins of sociology from industrialization, revolution and the Enlightenment through to globalization, neoliberalism and the fear of nationalism – introducing you to key thinkers, movements and concepts along the way. You will develop insight into the world around you, as you engage your ‘sociological imagination’ and explore studies of the city, theories of power and knowledge, concepts of national, racial and sexual identity, and much more.

Using a rich array of ethnographic and archival data closely considering the Irish and the manner in which ’Irishness’ was rendered inclusive, Multiculturalism's Double Bind demonstrates that multiculturalism can encourage cross-community political engagement in the global city. This book challenges the perceived wisdom that multiculturalism counteracts the opportunity for groups to move beyond their particularized constituency to build links and networks with other 'minority' groups. Theoretically informed and empirically grounded this volume will appeal to scholars across a range of disciplines, including migration and ethnicity, social and cultural anthropology, Irish studies and sociology.

John Nagle

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