Steven Seidman argues “that the culture of Hamra tolerates considerable diversity in personal styles and itineraries, but non sectarian others (gender, sexual, and ethnic) are sites of anxiety and mistrust; they survive on the borders or back regions of Beirut.” By comparing the street topography and the contours of the self he attempts to demonstrate how streets become social enclaves or security combat zones rather than serving as gathering spaces or public spheres. This shapes the construction of the self and how the self engages with the other, where urban topography intersects with Beirut's unique history of shaping the contours of the self.
"Women share the streets with men, but not their power" according to Seidman, who examines the limits of tolerance towards women, foreigners, and non-heterosexuals. Though a culture is "taking shape in Hamra", it is at odds with cosmopolitanism having a “hard edged culture of civic indifference and mistrust". This cultivated indifference towards others gives to Beirut’s streets something of its speed, its impressive play of form and movement, its fluidity and apparent lightness of being, even if this surface conceals passions fired by fear and loathing, dread and hatred.
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About the Author
Steven Seidman is an American sociologist, currently professor at State University of New York at Albany. He is a social theorist working the areas of Social Theory, Culture, Sexuality, Democracy, Modern Colonialism and Nationalism. He received his B.A. from the State University of New York at Brockport in 1972, his M.A. from the New School for Social Research in 1977 and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1980. After earning his doctorate he taught as assistant professor at New Mexico State University from 1980 to 1983 before starting his current tenure at SUNY Albany, where he became associate professor in 1986 and full professor in 1992. To date his books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Romanian, Turkish and Spanish.