Architecture, Power and Religion in Lebanon: Rafiq Hariri and the Politics of Sacred Space in Beirut: 114 (Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia, 114) - Hardcover

Vloeberghs, Ward

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004305823 ISBN 13: 9789004305823

Publisher: Brill, 2015

Synopsis

In Architecture, Power and Religion in Lebanon, Ward Vloeberghs explores Rafiq Hariri’s patronage and his posthumous legacy to demonstrate how religious architecture becomes a site for power struggles in contemporary Beirut. By tracing the 150 year-long history of the Muhammad al-Amin Mosque – Lebanon’s principal Sunni mosque – and the subsequent development of the site as a commemoration venue, this account offers a unique illustration of how architecture, religion and power become discursively and visually entangled. Set in a multi-confessional society marked by social inequalities and political fragmentation, this interdisciplinary study analyses how architectural practice and urban reconfigurations reveal a nascent personality cult, communal mourning, and the consolidation of political territory in relation to constantly shifting circumstances.

About this title

About the Author

Ward Vloeberghs studied Arab & Islamic Studies and Politics. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the Erasmus University College in Rotterdam and focuses on political sociology in the Arab world.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brill
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004305823
• ISBN 13: 9789004305823
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 478