Redrawing the lines of ‘us’ and ‘them’: How engagement with local diversity through associational life can foster multi-dimensional identity in a post-conflict context

Abstract

This paper explores themes of identity and belonging as displayed within the local associational life of young adults in Lebanon. The paper responds to questions raised in intergroup contact literature regarding the role of intragroup relationships in shaping group boundaries and self-categorization. It explores how participants think about and experience diverse social categories within local networks and the corresponding processes by which boundaries between various categories of ‘us’ and ‘them’ become increasingly blurred. Through observations of place-making initiatives and socio-political discourse emerging from shared local spaces (commons), the paper illustrates how intergroup tensions can become cognitively tied to concrete issues pertaining to one’s locality, rather than transcendent and permanent identity groupings. The research finds that participants develop discursive confidence to address interpersonal differences through interactions among peers within localized associational spaces. Further, the negotiation of multiple dimensions of identity and multiple categories of otherness within one’s closest social networks helps weaken the significance of sectarian identity in how participants reportedly approach relationships in more sect-diverse social spaces.