Alternate Eulogy

Abstract

This thesis explores the relationship between a nation and one of its most influential ‎icons, Fairuz. As a site of power that participates in the shaping of Lebanon’s post-‎colonial identity, the icon harbors a monumental ability to propagate a fabricated ‎national myth, one that simultaneously subdues and comforts the nationalist individual. ‎Following a system of power structures that gave rise to a national icon of hierarchical ‎superiority, the icon is currently at a critical moment in time, in tandem with the critical ‎state of a nation. The icon’s body is at a moment of transition, as the nation anticipates ‎its junction from the tangible to the intangible realm. A seemingly eternal legacy ‎prevails, while the opportunity arises to preemptively eulogize the icon through a ‎condemnation of its indoctrination of the nation as well as a celebration of its ‎contribution to the national identity.‎

The dialectical influence of the icon is immortalized in the site of Zokak el Blat, a ‎seminal site of her early flourishing, and a historically and culturally rich neighborhood. ‎The architectural intervention proposes a processional movement that functions as a ‎ceremony for the icon’s alternate eulogy. The visitor is guided through a series of ‎programs in an allegorical experience where the past influence of the icon and the nation ‎are confronted, and a transition into the construction of a future’s new national myths is ‎promised. The intention of this thesis is to offer a space for the concomitant destruction ‎and perpetuation of nationalist narratives that require a rejuvenated lens of future ‎generations to question, scrutinize, unveil and redraw the national myth. ‎