The Karbalization of Lebanon: Karbala aslieu de mémoirein Hezbollah’s Ashura narrative

Abstract

This article draws on the unique backdrop of Lebanese sociopolitical history to explore a lieu de mémoire that figures centrally in the rhetoric of Hezbollah around Ashura, the 10th night of the commemoration of Imam Hussein’s death at Karbala. Using an analysis of the speeches of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on Ashura, this article examines the party’s rhetoric around the battle of Karbala, and the revered leader’s death, through the three dimensions of lieux de mémoire as identified by Pierre Nora, paying particular attention to the role of mediatization in the materiality of memory. It shows that lieux de mémoire can in fact emerge in the absence of a nation-state, despite Nora’s testament to the contrary.