2008 Woodie Awards
Trapped in Beruit
Robert Hoffman
Issue date: 9/18/06 Section: News
During the summer, Rollins professor of political science Dr. Erica Bouris traveled to Beirut, Lebanon in order to conduct research. Only days after arriving, tensions between Israel and Lebanon, in particular the Lebanese-based Hezbollah group, escalated into violence. What follows is the story of her experiences in Lebanon, the account of her efforts to leave the country, and her reflections on the conflict.
"I traveled to Beirut, Lebanon on a Critchfield grant in order to conduct research, and I was also a research associate at the American University of Beirut's Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES). I conducted a series of interviews with elite Palestinians residing in Lebanon in order to better understand what role, if any, these individuals could play in Israeli-Palestinian peace-building (most of them, while highly influential, operated outside the mainstream political arena)."
As the conflict began to develop Dr. Bouris decided to conduct a similar series of interviews with elite Lebanese (those not directly active in politics). The interviews were conducted to better understand the role of individuals play in peace-building. She conducted 15 interviews in total, many of them being multi-stage interviews (i.e. several hours, spread out over a few weeks). The research is being incorporated into an article she is writing.
"Regarding the general experience, I got to Beirut on July 8, the conflict started July 12. I actually was in the middle of conducting an interview with a Palestinian banker in downtown Beirut, and all during the interview, he was receiving calls from the south of Lebanon, Jordan, friends, etc. and details of the kidnapping of the two soldiers emerged. Upon the conclusion of our interview, he was hesitant to let me leave the bank, and only relented because I assured him I had a Lebanese driver close by and was going straight back to Achrafia (a predominantly Christian neighborhood about a mile away)."
"I traveled to Beirut, Lebanon on a Critchfield grant in order to conduct research, and I was also a research associate at the American University of Beirut's Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES). I conducted a series of interviews with elite Palestinians residing in Lebanon in order to better understand what role, if any, these individuals could play in Israeli-Palestinian peace-building (most of them, while highly influential, operated outside the mainstream political arena)."
As the conflict began to develop Dr. Bouris decided to conduct a similar series of interviews with elite Lebanese (those not directly active in politics). The interviews were conducted to better understand the role of individuals play in peace-building. She conducted 15 interviews in total, many of them being multi-stage interviews (i.e. several hours, spread out over a few weeks). The research is being incorporated into an article she is writing.
"Regarding the general experience, I got to Beirut on July 8, the conflict started July 12. I actually was in the middle of conducting an interview with a Palestinian banker in downtown Beirut, and all during the interview, he was receiving calls from the south of Lebanon, Jordan, friends, etc. and details of the kidnapping of the two soldiers emerged. Upon the conclusion of our interview, he was hesitant to let me leave the bank, and only relented because I assured him I had a Lebanese driver close by and was going straight back to Achrafia (a predominantly Christian neighborhood about a mile away)."
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