The investigation of identities in the Middle East

Identity is far from simple in the modern Middle East, involving at its simplest a combination of political, ethnic, religious, economic and linguistic facets. Combined with the previous research theme this theme is designed to help improve contemporary cultural understanding at a time of increasing public factionalism.
CBRL has been supporting the following projects:

Ancient and Modern fortification in Israel/Palestine: Material culture, subjectivity and conflict
Juliana Ochs (University of Cambridge, PhD project)

Arabic references on Wahhabism in AUB Library
Namira Nahouza (University of Exeter)

Dissident Bedouin poetry: The work of Ghassan Shbayl
Prof Clive Douglas Holes (University of Oxford)
The recording, transcription, translation and annotation of a selection of poems by the dissident Bedouin poet, Ghassan Shbayl from Jordan. This project also includes a commentary on the poetic and linguistic features and socio-political significance of his work and of oral popular poetry in contemporary Jordan

Ethnic conflict and memory: Remembering, forgetting and forgiving the past in Lebanon
Craig Larkin (University of Exeter, PhD project)

Muslim Communities in the Crusader States: A Historical and Archaeological Study
Roderick Millard (Cardiff University, PhD Project)

New Beginnings? Education development in the informal Palestinian refugee camps of Southern Lebanon
Maria Ali-Adib (University of Manchester)

Religious symbolism in Israeli politics: Strategies and counterstrategies of the secular left and the religious right
Mark Hudson (SOAS, postgraduate project)

Sexuality, Shame and Honour – Attitudes towards ‘same-sex relationships’ between women in Jordan and Lebanon
Hazel Simons (former CBRL Research Scholar, Amman)
This project looks at the attitudes towards same-sex relations between women from a human rights perspective. It looks at theories of the construction of gender and sexuality within society in Jordan and Lebanon, in relation to attitudes towards, and problems faced by women within same-sex relations. It will examine social, religious and political factors which help determine how these relationships are perceived in general, and use interviews to get more personal, specific views from a number of different individuals. It is hoped that interviews will also be conducted with women within same-sex relations.

Syrian Migrant Workers in Lebanon since 1990
Dr John Chalcraft (London School of Economics)
Research on the micropolitics of Syrian’s migration to Lebanon since 1990 with a focus on the production and reproduction of social networks between workers and employers

Syrian women’s attitudes to their experience of education
Kate Washington (former CBRL Research Scholar, Amman)
This project examines changing perceptions of gender roles within Syrian society by focusing on the educational experiences of Damascene women across two generations. My methodology is based on interviews with 20 women from Damascus who finished their education in the late 1960s and their daughters who finished in the late 1990s.

The Greek speaking community of Mina in Lebanon
Lasithiotaki Efsevia (University of Exeter, PhD project)

The ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan
Anne-Liliane Jorand (former CBRL Research Scholar, Amman)

The involvement of torture survivors in the rehabilitation programmes implemented by humanitarian agencies in Iraq and Lebanon
Marie-Helene Pare (University of Oxford, PhD project)

UN Convention on the rights of the Child: UNRWA and service provision for stateless Palestinian refugees
Fay Mahdi (SOAS)
Interviews in Beirut and Damascus
 

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