Nature, environmentalism, and the politics of citizenship in post-civil war Lebanon

Abstract

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Transnational social capital: the socio‐spatialities of civil society

“…Personal mobility, including an education in the West (Nagel and Staeheli 2016) and participation in international events (Baillie Smith and Jenkins 2016; Staeheli et al 2016), shapes the engagement of people with civil society. Nagel and Staeheli (2016) show how the environmental discourses of Lebanese NGO activists reflected ideas about the civic virtues of green space, which they derived from their Western education and wider student experiences and then translated into their own environmental activism. The role of international travel in producing particular subjectivities and forms of capital can also be seen in the influence that international events have on civil society.…”

“…This shows that, for civil society actors, personal mobility is highly precarious, fluid and contextual, and situated within wider geopolitical and developmental processes (Nagel and Staeheli 2016). Pam highlights the importance to her development work in Grenada of travelling around the Caribbean and connecting with other activists.…”

“…Both are required to make his work successful, as he draws on both transnational and much more local relations to shape his engagement with the community he works with. It is also precarious and relies on wider geopolitical circumstances (Nagel and Staeheli 2016;Rogaly 2015). Spending time overseas offers Caribbean civil society actors a chance to gain knowledge and ideas, but, as in David's case, civil society work also provides them with a route back into their community.…”

“…This opposes the tendency to view transnational relations as more important for civil society organizing, for it is necessary to recognize the interconnections and merits of both local and transnational social relations (Mercer et al 2009). Overseas mobility can potentially improve the resources that actors are able to bring to civil society, but it also promotes particular versions of what sustainable development may encompass (Baillie Smith and Jenkins, 2011Bebbington 2007;Nagel and Staeheli 2016). Spending time overseas can stimulate their desire to contribute to the community on their return and build the social capital of civil society.…”

Exploring Nature, Making the Nation: The Spatial Politics of Ecotourism in Lebanon

“…By getting young Lebanese out into the natural environment and having them contribute sweat equity in the shared public landscape, the organization sought to engender a broadened sense of civic duty and pride that went beyond the institutions of family, religion, and politics. As geographer Caroline Nagel found in her research with Lebanese environmental organizations: “Nature and green space are conceived of as an antidote to political sectarianism and an instrument for creating the social encounters and interactions that will produce social cohesion” (, 19).…”