Abstract
There is rising global interest in social interaction, everyday life activities within public spaces and third places (example, Stevens, 2007). Literature on cafés, and changes in public life have addressed issues such as social exclusion and morality (Sennett, 1994). Beirut is a city with a history of influences from various cultures. Morality, leisure and social marginality were specifically studied in turn of the century Beirut by Hanssen (2005: 193–212). Also, Khalaf (2006) referred to the potential of leisure spaces to affect social life in Beirut, a city embracing heterogeneous political, religious and sectarian communities. The authors of this book explore leisure and morality from the perspective of youth in one Shi’ite community residing in the southern suburbs of Beirut referred to as the ‘Dahiya’ – literally the suburb – who clearly distinguish themselves from the rest of the Lebanese (p. 30). Therefore, this book addresses social scientists, urban studies researchers and specifically an audience interested in contemporary interpretations of imported cultural dimensions within pious Islamic Shi’ite communities. The authors frame the Lebanese café culture as following a Western one, where both genders frequent cafés, in contrast to the predominant male presence in other neighbouring countries. According to the authors, the everyday practices in cafés of these young pious Shi’ites and followers of one political party and particular ‘jurisprudents’ (pp. 66–87), reflect a specific reading of Beirut through their identification of leisure locales that are congruent with their morality frameworks.
The book comprises seven chapters detailing the timing, context, characteristics and practices in Dahiya’s cafés. The introduction presents an insightful overview of the main aspects addressed in the book including leisure, and cafés in an Islamic context, the application of ‘multiple moral rubrics’ and leisure spaces in Dahiya. The ‘multiple moral rubrics’ (p. 15) define how this group of café users behave when frequenting certain cafés according to particular religious and social values (pp. 18–24). The authors refer to Schielke’s notion of moral registers and Robbin’s theory of value (pp. 18–19) in building the rubrics and forming the analysis framework of the research. The authors clearly state that the significance of researching the age group 18–35 that are Shi’ite followers of Hizbullah during a specific time period lies in presenting an important aspect of cafés, morality and leisure since ‘these ideas have become common in this part of the city’ (p. 30). The authors equally explain arising contradictions in opinions, thoughts and behaviour in certain cases, resulting in changing identities over time and according to circumstances, and affecting the propensity to visit certain leisure places in the city. The introduction ends with a regional comparison of cafés, and juxtaposes the understanding of morality for this group of the Shi’ite population with other Muslim contexts, emphasising the flexibility of interpretation and degree of liberty and ‘personal choice’ (p. 20) in Dahiya’s case. Chapter 1 narrates the evolution of Dahiya in relation to Hizbullah’s activities, the effects on Hizbullah’s supporters, and the emergence of these cafés, particularly after the year 2006. Chapter 2 presents the complex relations of leisure to political, religious and entrepreneurial actors. Direct and indirect interventions, facilitations and cultural control mechanisms are explained in relation to these actors. As Dahiya has been the study focus of both authors for an extensive time period (p. 9), this book provides rich and detailed accounts of the cafés, their users and stories about the raison d’être behind their designs as presented in Chapter 3. Methods used include observations, interviews and surveys. The authors explain the chronology of the cafés’ emergence, practices related to their interior styles, and the use of language in names and menus. In terms of mapping (p. 106), little is mentioned about the location of the cafés in relation to landmarks, and other activities in their surroundings. It is worth noting that the discussed themes are not specific to the interlocutors but are shared with other communities in and around Beirut. For example, the authors address the names of cafés in Dahiya that are based on nostalgia for the past (p. 118), yet similar cafés with Arabic names reminiscent of an old, foregone period have started spreading in and around Beirut since the year 2000, for example Baba, Sanyour and others. Also, the authors refer to the Shi’ite Lebanese who maintain their bond with their villages (p. 119), which is common to other Lebanese who take the opportunity to visit their villages on weekends and holidays. Furthermore, the eclecticism in furnishing, food and use of language (p. 127) described in Dahiya’s cafés, features in other parts of Beirut knowing that immigration has affected Lebanese of all sects, and classes. Also, while the cafés visited by the authors had ‘donation boxes for local charitable associations’ (p. 130), cafés elsewhere in Beirut might have similar donation boxes, but for associations dealing with cancer, or heart diseases, hence addressing the population at large. What differs in the case of Dahiya’s cafés is rather the disciplining of leisure under the morality rubric.
Unpacking the moral rubric, Chapter 4 addresses the flexible morality (p. 135) in conduct and public life practices that allow certain transgressions within what is morally and religiously permissible. For example, music becomes a public issue rather than a personal choice because of its selective emergence in cafés (p. 139), therefore bringing one component out of the private realm. Deeb identifies this phenomenon as ‘“authenticated” religious belief and practice’ (p. 157) For example, mixed gender interaction, facilitated by social networks within selected cafés, is considered permissible if it does not conflict with religious and political community principles (p. 174). In Chapter 5 the authors present shifts in leisure practices of the interlocutors inside and outside their community, in Beirut or within their ‘comfort zone’: Dahiya (p. 179). To them Beirut is ‘permeable’ only when ‘moral leisure’ enterprises are identified as safe to frequent (p. 180). The sense of comfort in one’s milieu, and proud belonging to Dahiya, leads to ‘developing urban competencies’ (p. 190), ‘guided urban experiences’ (p. 192), and ‘mapping the moral city’ (p. 195) for leisure activities, while moral flexibility allows for critiquing territorial confinement in some cases (p. 188).
The concluding chapter, Chapter 6, reverts to the question on the possibility that such leisure practices could trigger broader social, political and urban changes (p. 217). The chapter reflects on perceptions of Dahiya by its own community but also outsiders to it. However, the extent to which respondents outside Dahiya represent the opinion of the Lebanese on Dahiya (pp. 210–212) and similarly, the views of Dahiya’s residents outside the interlocutors’ community are unclear. Conclusions on the relation of the suburb to the rest of the city remain open to further research and interpretation. Further research is required on whether the emerging leisure activities are a sign of gentrification within Dahiya, and whether its young people’s ‘intellectual emancipation’ (p. 218) could lead to an exchange where other Beirutees would also include these cafés in their everyday lives. One interesting research question is whether this café culture could persist without the cultivation of morality and religion through unspoken rules, leading to conformity in the behaviour of these young people. Drawing parallels with the Shi’ite diaspora of similar political belonging and religious affiliations living in Western countries, and a comparison in their moral city mapping (see for example Ajroush and Kusow, 2007 on Lebanese Shi’ites and shifting identities) could also inform this subject. Also, as the authors rightly emphasise, the Lebanese ‘long-standing enmeshment of sectarian groups’ (p. 148), who lived in harmony prior to the civil war, studying Dahiya’s leisure activities and expanding it to cover other areas in Beirut could be the beginning towards re-establishing this harmony, bridging class and sectarian divides, or what the authors term the class–sect nexus (p. 210). Finally, with demographic changes and rising urban population density following the influx of Syrians, an epilogue to portray the Dahiya café dynamics would be very useful.