POSTREVOLUTIONARY IRAN AND SHIءI LEBANON: CONTESTED HISTORIES OF SHIءI TRANSNATIONALISM

Extract

In this article I address the transnational dimensions of memory production. In particular, I analyze how interpretations of past events define Shiءi relations across borders in the Middle East. Focusing on how the Lebanese Shiءi political party of Amal and the current Iranian government remember the figure of Mustafa Chamran—an Iranian Shiءi anti-Shah activist based in Lebanon from 1970 to 1979—I discuss the debates that inform the creation of such contested memories and reasons for and consequences of their divergence. Participants' ideas about the history and characteristics of this transnational network cannot be understood separately from their claims to political and religious authority in the Shiءi world. Thus, transnational Shiءi networks do not self-evidently reproduce themselves based on a shared sense of religious identity and history. It takes ideological work both to construct differences and to create solidarities across borders among Shiءa. This ideological work must be situated within larger political, religious, and socioeconomic contexts.