According to what terms will the human and urban fabric of Beirut be reconstructed? Join Shea McManus (Anthropology, The Graduate Center) as she discusses the work of contemporary artists who have made installations in Beirut that call attention to social reconstruction through political commentary. How are these projects creating a voice for local actors to self-organize and create new, local, non-governmental organizations? In a fraught emotional landscape, is this a new model for transitional justice?
This lecture is part of the “Common Goods: Exploring Innovative Transitions Series” presented in connection with the Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency exhibition on view in the James Gallery from March 14 to June 2, 2012.
Participants
Shea McManus
Shea McManus is a Ph.D. candidate in cultural anthropology at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her dissertation, entitled “Producing Justice: International Law, Cultures of Suffering, and the Humane Subject in Lebanon,” is a critical ethnography of transitional justice in postwar Lebanon. Drawing on fourteen months of fieldwork with national and international artists, activists, and experts, McManus examines initiatives to document past war crimes, identify victims and perpetrators, highlight experiences of violence and suffering, and pursue justice and reconciliation in Lebanon. Her work contributes to the anthropology of postwar social repair, international law, and humanitarianism.