Abstract
Contemporary billboard advertising in Beirut fuels anxiety in Beirut’s citizens. In a city suffering from daily uncertainties caused by a devastating financial collapse in 2019, and mourning victims of the worst non-nuclear explosion to ever occur in the Port of Beirut in 2020, Beirutis are also faced with advertising which constantly reinforces uneasiness. Visual advertisements market visas to leave the country, purchasing second passports and money counting machines, forming quotidian reminders of the current state of the country. Using interviews and visual ethnographic material collected during the summer of 2023, this thesis discusses how billboards help to foster dialogue around political and social commentary and advertise specific moral economies. It discusses the lived experience of Beirutis in a post-crisis economy, and how individuals adapt and cope within a constantly changing set of circumstances. It poses questions about what it means to be Lebanese in 2023 and examines the current state of citizenship and who is allowed to be a citizen.
School
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy
Department
Cynthia Nelson Institute for Gender and Women's Studies
Degree Name
MA in Gender & Women's Studies
Graduation Date
Spring 6-12-2024
Submission Date
5-27-2024
First Advisor
Martina Rieker
Committee Member 1
Gwyneth Talley
Committee Member 2
Emiko Stock
Extent
118 p.
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval
Approval has been obtained for this item
Recommended Citation
APA Citation
Callahan, C. A.
(2024).Anxious Futures: Capital, Nation and Advertising in Beirut, Lebanon [Master's Thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain.
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2330
MLA Citation
Callahan, Caitlin Alais. Anxious Futures: Capital, Nation and Advertising in Beirut, Lebanon. 2024. American University in Cairo, Master's Thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain.
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2330
Included in
Near Eastern Languages and Societies Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons, Women's Studies Commons