Merchants and memory :remembering the old Beirut Souqs -

Abstract

Directly after the end of the civil war in 1990, a massive project for the reconstruction of the Beirut Central District was launched by Rafic Hariri and was to be carried out by the private real estate company Solidere. This project was controversial as it required handing over of the city center’s reconstruction – typically a state task - to a private company. It required the appropriation of all private property in the area to Solidere. Property Rights Holders, those who owned property in the city center, were forced to give up their property in return for shares in the company or compensation. This project spurred debate about how the reconstruction should take place, who should be involved and what kind of city was to be built, with some supporting Solidere and many others opposing it. The reconstruction of the city center greatly altered the way in which people used and identified with the urban space, and the meaning that the city center once held for Lebanese. By looking at the life story of Beiruti merchant who grew up and worked in the old Beirut souqs, this thesis willexamine the ways in which the past is remembered after the experience of personal loss. In particular, how the displaced merchant reconciles his memory of his shops and life in the downtown area with their experience of displacement from the war and then the reconstruction of the city center.