On Archives, Ruins and Heritage: Past Futures of the Folklore Project of the Baalbeck International Festival (1955-1975)

Abstract

This work studies the practices and legacy of the Lebanese Nights. It seeks to understand the circumstances and driving forces that led to the ending of its folklore project with the abrupt suspension of the Festival at the beginning of the civil war in 1975. In so doing, the research traces the trajectory of discourses of folklore endorsed through the Lebanese Nights from inception, institutionalization and transformation towards promoting national identity and social cohesion among Lebanese citizens and expatriates. These trajectories are examined within the historical context and institutional governance processes and policies of the Festival’s Folklore Subcommittee and emerging elite groups of local artists and intellectuals in promoting new local genre and innovative artistic practices adapted from folklore. As such, this research endeavor aspires to position the folklore project of the Lebanese Nights as a “locally” relevant frame for conducting critical heritage and cultural policy research from Lebanon based on archival discursive institutionalism.