Paper short abstract:

The paper conceptualizes the Mediterranean as »Critical Zones« to ethnographically explore more-than-human ontologies and multispecies histories of Egypt and Lebanon that focus on contradictions and politics of living in the ruins of a failed/damaged state/Earth while remaining radically hopeful.

Paper long abstract:

The proposed paper is situated on the Mediterranean southeastern shores in Egypt and Lebanon and builds upon multidisciplinary research and scholarship around the so-called Anthropocene, global climate change and ecological collapse. In particular, the project engages with the concept of »Critical Zones« recently proposed by Bruno Latour and others. The paper is based on my planned postdoctoral research project that aims to ethnographically trace multiple lines of contradiction that emerge within the intersectional simultaneity of ecological and societal collapse. The goal is to develop a combined heuristic approach to Mediterranean Critical Zones as more-than-human ontologies and multispecies histories that focus on contradictions and politics of living in the ruins of a failed/damaged state/Earth while remaining radically hopeful – on the ground, in theory, and in ethnography.

In the paper I would like to put up for discussion my envisioned comparative ethnographic approach, which on the one hand, under the theme of »Egypt's Hydrosocial Politics and Future«, employs a »floating ethnography« to explore the dynamics and impacts of current hypermodernist development projects on local Nile dwelling communities. On the other hand, under the theme of »Lebanon's Decay|Future« the approach aims at juxtaposing these with an emancipatory and collaborative ethnography of local resistances, radical hope and despair in Lebanon as a state in complete decay.

The project/paper aims to contribute to an anthropology of (failed) states, collaborative ethnographic methodology and more-than-human entanglements and multispecies histories in the Mediterranean and MENA region.

Paper short abstract:

Based on fieldwork with environmentalist campaigners, this paper examines how the arrival of the lionfish from the Red Sea was encountered on the Lebanese coastline and asks how anthropology can account for transformative events in human animal relations.

Paper long abstract:

Populations of lionfish (pterois), native to the Read Sea and Indian Ocean, have expanded at a rapid pace in the waters of Eastern Mediterranean since around 2015. The lionfish is categorized by marine science as invasive. Combining knowledges of marine biology and non-governmental advocacy, the lionfish-encounter brought a group of young scientists and activists in diverse activities and entanglements across the Lebanese coastline in their campaign for oceanic literacy and against the invasive species. What work did the category of invasive, and it's playful associations with enemy-ness, do in bringing the Lebanese public to know the sea? How did this specific encounter with the Lessepsian migrations figure in changing relationships to the sea in Lebanon? As the lionfish was encountered and made known, and edible, to the Lebanese public, what kind of new oceanic entanglements were brought forth? Based on ethnographic fieldwork with a nascent environmental NGO, this paper traces how the scientist-campaigners made sense of the lionfish as both a threat to local ecosystems, but also as something they needed foster a relationship with. Through working for 'oceanic literacy' - a concept borrowed from global marine science pedagogy – the group engaged in an educational pursuit of changing the relationship of Lebanese with their coastal waters. Joining the emerging discussions in marine anthropology, human-animal relations, and oceanic epistemologies, I argue that paying heed to events in the Lebanese coastal waters has potential to open up new perspectives for a marine anthropology of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the urban environment of the Old City of Jerusalem, describing how the lack of private space, exacerbated by the summer heat, has led residents to develop new perspectives on the commons through a communal system of sharing the shade.

Paper long abstract:

As cities around the world struggle with rising summer temperatures, the built environment of ancient urban centers has become a site of anguish but also adaptation. This paper explores two spaces central to the social and spatial dynamics of old cities throughout the Middle East: the hosh, or family compound, and the hara, or neighborhood.

Drawing on extended fieldwork in the Old City of Jerusalem, it describes how these spaces have changed from semi-private domestic spaces to the shared spaces of strangers – including family compounds shared by non-kin, Palestinian neighborhoods beset by Israeli settlements, and streets of crowded homes adjacent empty houses of absentee landlords. It highlights how the lack of private space is only exacerbated by the heat of summer, when residents seek to escape encirclement by old city stone.

The rest of the paper describes how Palestinian Old City residents avoid the heat through a variety of means, including collective trips to “take the air” outside the city gates and regular visitation and hosting of others at compounds with trees and shade and space. I argue that implicit in these acts is a local theory of the commons which is submerged in much writing about the city – a theory which views space (especially “green” space), as conditionally shared according to need, season, and solidarity.

Paper short abstract:

Stairways connect Amman and function as vertical shortcuts in an otherwise unruly landscape. Thick blankets from Wast al-Balad on the other hand cover you in a sense of heavy fluffiness. I use these two images to reflect on how I have been moved to think about the arts of living queerly in the city.

Paper long abstract:

By reflecting on two images; stairways and heavy fluffy blankets, this paper reflects on how I have been moved to think about the role of atmospheres in the arts of living queerly in Amman. First image: Numerous stairways connect Amman's seven hills and they function as shortcuts that produce vertical lines in the otherwise twisty turny streets that sprawl like unruly snakes in the landscape. On them, in a sense, you have only your body. There are no other vehicles that can move on them. This can provide both a sense of intimacy and a sense of risk. Some of the vibrantly painted steps stand in stark contrast to the white-turned-beige lime stone that otherwise (over)rule the aesthetic experience of the city. They are distinctive and yet connected to the overall urban tapestry. Second image: In Wast al-Balad you will find thick fluffy blankets for sale. Those same blankets that are used to warm you in front of the gas heater in winter have been turned into a conceptual fashion collection by the artist Fadi Zumot thus changing the meaning of those same blankets as they are being exhibited in the city. Through being attuned to the relationship between people, things and the urban landscape, and inspired from the overall panel, the paper reflects on what happens to the engagement with an ethics of seeing queerly when the gaze is turned towards those relationships in a radical way.