Arab Media & Society

Imagining Identities: Television Advertising and the

Reconciliation of the Lebanese Conflict

The Middle East has seen much social change in recent decades of turmoil. On one hand, some communities have embraced Westernness as part of an inevitable path to development and modernization. On the other hand, other communities have resisted global trends mainly dominated by the West. The latter deemed influences from the West as a threat to native cultures, religious values and local traditions. This has made the Arab world a ground for constant redefinition of identity.

Of the countries in the region undergoing a turbulent debate over what constitutes a national identity, Lebanon serves as a unique example. Ever since its independence, Lebanon has been a nation-state with no sense of nationality to unite its people. Some communities saw themselves as more francophone than Arab, while others felt a close connection to a pan-Arab nation. Arguably, the Lebanese people found themselves in tension between the two poles. Defining one’s identity required negotiation between the two extremes. Not only did this negotiation demand a thorough investigation of one’s beliefs, social networks, and history, but it also necessitated a diligent ‘performance’ of identity. An individual represented her identity by habits and expressions that she associated with that particular identity.

The study at hand is an exploration of the relationship between identity and consumption in Lebanese society. Taking television advertising as a site of inquiry, this paper proposes to find out how commercial advertisers have constructed a “new” cosmopolitan identity for the Lebanese. The Lebanese cosmopolitan transcends the ideological and religious differences that hinder progress. This paper argues that the construction of a sterilized cosmopolitan identity utilizes consumption as the marker of difference. Applying theories of globalization, postcolonial studies, and consumption, this study focuses on television advertising as a manifestation of the ambivalence in identity. It investigates how producers of television commercials associate attitudes, behaviors, and social status with the featured products.

Historical Context:

This paper does not claim that media products have been the cause of controversy in defining the national and cultural identity of the Lebanese. This work will, however, build on the premise that the dispute over identity has existed since the early years of the country’s inception. In fact, the contention over defining this identity finds its roots in colonial times.

For many centuries the rugged mountainous terrain of Lebanon provided a safe haven for an array of exiled religious communities. Maronite Christians inhabited the areas of northern Lebanon fearing the wrath of Justinian II in 694. Numerous dissident Muslim groups, exiled and persecuted, took refuge in south Lebanon. One of the latter was the Druze community that came to play a major role in Lebanese history (Hitti, 1965, p. 257). According to Richard van Leeuwen (1994), the Maronite population increased significantly in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. With this growth emerged the Maronite migration from areas such as Bsharri (in the north) to areas in Mount Lebanon. This encouraged economic interaction between the Druze inhabitants of these areas and the recent Maronite dwellers (van Leeuwen, 1994, p.101).

Maronites have always seen themselves as victims of persecution by the ruling empires that prevailed through the centuries. Philip Hitti (1957) writes that during the Mamluke era, Maronites were the victims of pillage and destruction. This forced them to draw south into Druze areas which they penetrated deeply from the 16^th century through the 18th century. Hitti (1957) argues that the coexistence of Maronites and Druze in the same areas eventually fueled the confrontations that led to the sectarian conflicts of the 19th century. Seventeenth-century Maronite Patriarch Istfan Doueihy said the Maronite community’s history was fraught with struggle for a religious identity during times of Sunni Muslim domination (Gilmore, 1983, p.75).

However, the Druze and the Nusayriyah Shiites were in the same weak position as the Maronites during the rule of the Ottomans and the Mamlukes before them (Abu Abd Allah, 1997). In fact, many historians contend that it was subjection to similar pressures that brought these communities together. For example, Michael House (1989) and Samir Khalaf (1979) describe the relationship between the various religious communities of Lebanon as one of harmonious coexistence. The religious minorities lived in accord and in fact became dependent on each other to survive the overwhelming Sunni hegemony. Kamal Salibi (1988) states that Maronites living in Druze regions were under Druze protection. Abd Allah Abu Abd Allah (1997) says it was the Druze and the Shiite lords that invited the Maronites to their territories to work the fields or even to provide monetary and financial services. This communal cohesiveness can best be demonstrated through the personal friendship that developed between the Druze Emir Ahmad Maan of the Shuf and Maronite Patriarch Doueihy (Salibi, 1988).

If any divisions existed in society, these divisions remained within the ruling feudal families. Followers, whether Christians or Druze, pledged allegiance to the feudal lords they served. While the lords and their families lived safely and comfortably in their castles overseeing the fiefdoms, external intervention - whether Ottoman or European - aimed at striking a balance between the various sheikhs in power; a balance that was soon to take a sectarian form.

The Ottomans required a steady flow of taxation from their subjects and later sought to establish their authority in the region. European powers also had various interests. Khalaf (1979) believes that European intervention, specifically French and British, heavily influenced how the Ottoman Porte ruled the Lebanese territory. Eventually, the power-play between them was somewhat resolved by separating the mountains and dividing them into two administrative entities (qa’immaqamates) -- one Christian and one Druze.