Professor Ziad Abu-Rish Discusses the Entwined Histories of Electricity and Social Struggle in Lebanon on the Afikra Podcast
Associate Professor of Human Rights and Middle Eastern Studies Ziad Abu-Rish
Ziad Abu-Rish, associate professor of human rights and Middle Eastern studies at Bard and author of The State of Lebanon: Popular Politics and Institution Building in the Wake of Independence, appeared on the Afikra Podcast. Abu-Rish, who is also the director of the MA Program in Human Rights and the Arts, spoke with host Mikey Muhanna about the complex, decades-long interplay of international corporations and struggles over Lebanese national identity. At the heart of their discussion was the ongoing electricity crisis in Lebanon, which has faced pronounced shortages in recent months.
This sort of crisis is nothing new to the region, as Abu-Rish explains. He outlines the decades-long history of struggle for the provision of utilities, showing how it also traces a history of struggle that he says helped to form the current sense of Lebanese national identity, a history that begins with early regional monopolies and runs up to the creation of today’s Électricité du Liban (Electricity of Lebanon). They also consider what defines a state, and how socially disruptive and even disastrous events can refine collective identity through struggle.
Middle Eastern Studies at Bard promotes the intellectual exploration and analytic study of the historical and contemporary Middle East, from North Africa to Central Asia. The program provides a broad intellectual framework with course offerings cross-listed with history, literature, Arabic, Hebrew, religion, human rights, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, politics, art history and visual culture, and environmental studies.
Post Date: 09-29-2026
This sort of crisis is nothing new to the region, as Abu-Rish explains. He outlines the decades-long history of struggle for the provision of utilities, showing how it also traces a history of struggle that he says helped to form the current sense of Lebanese national identity, a history that begins with early regional monopolies and runs up to the creation of today’s Électricité du Liban (Electricity of Lebanon). They also consider what defines a state, and how socially disruptive and even disastrous events can refine collective identity through struggle.
Middle Eastern Studies at Bard promotes the intellectual exploration and analytic study of the historical and contemporary Middle East, from North Africa to Central Asia. The program provides a broad intellectual framework with course offerings cross-listed with history, literature, Arabic, Hebrew, religion, human rights, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, politics, art history and visual culture, and environmental studies.
Post Date: 09-29-2026