List of Maps
Preface and Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
1. RELIGION AS THE SITE OF THE COLONIAL ENCOUNTER
2. THE GENTLE CRUSADE
3· KNOWLEDGE AND IGNORANCE
4· THE FACES OF REFORM
5· REINVENTING MOUNT LEBANON
6. THE RETURN OF THE JUHHAL
7· THE DEVIL'S WORK
8. 11 A VERY OLD THING
EPILOGUE
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Ussama Makdisi is Assistant Professor of History at Rice University.
"This work is a meticulous deconstruction of sectarianism as a
discourse spawned by a particular historic conjecture—Ottoman
reform in the age of European domination—in and around the tiny
peripheral society of 19th-century Mount Lebanon. It is also an
impassioned insistence not only on the historic but also the moral
urgency of recognizing the contingency of, and the human agency in,
the emergence of sectarianism and an invitation for hope in a
Lebanese future that might yet dare to embrace an alternative
modernity. Makdisi's book is not only illuminated by the scholar's
insight; it is also animated by empathy for his subject matter and
a talent that brings local society and its mountainous vistas
vividly to the mind's eye."
*International Journal of Middle East Studies*
"The Culture of Sectarianism is a thoughtful and exciting book. . .
. that makes a difference in our understanding of Lebanese
history, sectarianism, and national identity."
*Middle East Journal*
"Unique in style, analysis and conclusions . . . [and] well
researched and well written. Not only does it use narratives, among
other things, to reconstruct the history of sectarian clashes that
befell Mount Lebanon between 1940 and 1960, but it is a history
told in a narrative style."
*Middle Eastern Studies*
"A fine book . . . Historians of India and the Middle East have
often insisted that sectarianism is a creation of modern
colonialism, tending to view it as a distortion of secular
nationalism. Makdisi's work challenges them on these issues in its
call for the study of sectarianism, not as the underbelly of
nationalism, but as a modern form of knowledge and sensibility that
has spawned a specific cultural outlook."
*Journal of Interdisciplinary History*
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