Memory, Identity, and Reconciliation in Lebanon

A Review of Makram Rabah's Conflict on Mount Lebanon

Abstract

This review examines Makram Rabah's Conflict on Mount Lebanon: The Druze, the Maronites and Collective Memory and assesses its contribution to the study of Lebanon's history, communal identity, and post-war reconciliation. Drawing on oral history and theories of collective memory, Rabah argues that memories of past conflicts are not merely preserved but continually reconstructed and mobilized by political actors, thereby shaping contemporary identities and political behavior. The review highlights the book's significant contribution to understanding the relationship between memory and governance in post-civil war Lebanon, particularly the persistence of sectarian narratives in the absence of a shared national reconciliation process. It also explores the book's relevance to Druze studies and identifies several areas where additional historical and comparative analysis could have strengthened the argument. Overall, the work offers an important framework for understanding the enduring influence of collective memory on conflict and reconciliation in Lebanon.