Despite the significant presence of foreign nationals in Lebanon, their experiences and challenges, particularly during times of crisis have been under-researched. The ongoing instability in the Levant since 2023, marked by a significant escalation in violence with the cross-border conflict with Israel that began on 8 October 2023, has further exposed their vulnerabilities. The Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC) is launching this series of factsheets to address the challenges faced by foreign nationals during these crises. These factsheets aim to inform policymakers, researchers, ...

Based on the concept of ‘affectedness’ (or ‘Betroffenheit’, Mies 1978), this article attempts to demonstrate how all participants in research, education, and social activism in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are impacted by the lack of a stable social environment, which is seen as the bedrock of scholarship by mainstream Northern theories and scientific methodologies. Researchers, academics and activists – as part of civil society – must deal with this intentional lack of security, social justice and freedom. In it we can recognize a form of elite-produced, and potentially indefinite, ...

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