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The inhabitants of Haouch Moussa : from stratified society through classlessness to the re-appearance of social classes

This is a case study, based on fieldwork research carried out in 1980-1981 and 1986-1987 among the inhabitants of Haouch Moussa ('Anjar)--a Lebanese Armenian community in the Beka'a valley of Lebanon. The study itself constitutes a reconstruction of the practices and experiences (and their genesis) of the people in question, as Lebanese and Armenians (and therefore, of my own history as a Lebanese and an Armenian (and a woman)). The settlement itself was established in 1939 by Armenian refugees deported from their original habitat in Mount Moussa, the Sanjak of Iskandaroun (Turkey). When relocated in the Central Beka'a the inhabitants initiated a collectivisation experiment. However, it was brought to an end shortly after Lebanese Independence. During the following decades, while the socialist ideology has persisted the individual households have at first become petty commodity producers for a regional, national and international market, and later through the dynamics of petty commodity production, capitalism, and the effects of the civil war in Lebanon further transformations have occurred. This thesis examines these transformations and attempts to translate the dynamics of the reality of the inhabitants of 'Anjar into anthropological discourse.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.75876
Date January 1989
CreatorsAprahamian, Sima
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageDoctor of Philosophy (Department of Anthropology.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 000913027, proquestno: AAINL52172, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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