Ideology, Media and Audio-Visual Archives in Wartime Lebanon
28-29 June 2019
University of Cambridge
This conference seeks to examine the circulation of ideologies and ideas through the various – old and new - media outlets that targeted domestic and foreign audiences in Wartime Lebanon. The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) was both an internal Lebanese affair and a regional conflict involving a host of regional and international actors. It revolved around some of the issues that dominated regional politics in the Middle East in the latter part of the 20th century, including the Palestine-Israel conflict, Cold War competition, Arab nationalism and political Islam but also around particular key concepts such as political confessionalism, minority rights, sectarian division, federalism, the fate of Eastern Christianity, etc. The conference aims to demonstrate how pervasive the battle to influence public opinion became on both sides of the war, by spurring vital conversation about the channels and means by which the Lebanese war(s) was /were presented, theorized and thus justified. By doing so, the conference aims to attract studies that will enrich our understanding of the intellectual, cultural and social histories of the Lebanese civil war – an area that still remains understudied – by disclosing how Lebanese and non-Lebanese journalists, academics, intellectuals, artists, activists, reporters, policymakers and others took up the ideological battle. The conference specifically encourages papers that will shed light on audio and visual archives as a way to highlight the competing forms of media outlets used throughout the different stages of the war.
The conference welcomes any proposal that falls within the three following themes:
1. Ideology, Intellectuals and the Press
2. The battle of the airwaves: Radio, slogans, political songs and anthems.
3. Visual propaganda: Photos, posters, and the emergence of TV.
Authors should submit a one-page proposal for their papers including the title, a short description of the topic(s) to be addressed, and the approach adopted. Proposals, along with authors’ contact information, institution and a short bio, should be submitted via e-mail to Chloe Kattar at the following address ck511@cam.ac.uk, by May 20th 2019
Chloe Kattar,
Cambridge University