Shiʻite Lebanon : transnational religion and the making of national identities / Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [261]-274) and index.

Introduction. Claiming Cultural Citizenship in Lebanon, from Margin to Center -- The Nation in the Making -- 1. Two Nations and One State: Shi'ite and Maronite Lebanon -- 2. Schooling and the Creation of Lebanese Shi'ite Public Identity -- Transnational Debates and Local Struggles -- 3. Shi'ite Piety and the Palestinian Cause: The History of a Discourse -- 4. The Politics of Shi'ite Authenticity Since 1982 -- 5. Iranian Cultural Politics in Lebanon.

"By recasting the relationship between religion and nationalism in the Middle East, Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr proposes a new framework for understanding Shi'ite politics in Lebanon. Her study draws on a variety of untapped sources, reconsidering not only the politics of the established leadership of Shi'ites but also institutional and popular activities of identity production. Shaery-Eisenlohr traces current Shi'ite politics of piety and authenticity to the coexistence formula in Lebanon and argues that engaging in the discourses of piety and coexistence is a precondition of cultural citizenship in Lebanon. As she demonstrates, debates over the nature of Christianity and Islam and Christian-Muslim dialogue are in fact intertwined with power struggles at the state level."--BOOK JACKET.