Collective Narratives of the Kfarsghabi Diasporic Community: An Important Tool to Reinstate Group Solidarity, Ethnic Identity and Societal Acceptance
This paper explores the significance of collective narratives for a particular diasporic community. The analysis demonstrates that addressing narratives is important not only to ensure understanding between old and new members, but also to expand societal acceptance and provide adequate formal assistance to sub-ethnic communities. The Kfarsghab community, whose members identify with a Maronite village in the Wadi Qadisha (Holy Valley) in Lebanon, is a suitable case study, especially due to the high commitment of certain members who disseminate information and stories. I analyzed digital platforms, searched in archives, and conducted qualitative interviews with community members in five coun…
Cinematic cruising: Reel imagination and real experience for pleasure on the high seas
The experiences of cruise ship passengers are influenced by cinematic representations and intensified and (re)produced by cruise operators. This paper conceptualises cinematic cruising as a phenomenon of reel and real spaces between imagination and experience for pleasure on the high seas. To date, the influence of cinematic representations on the experience of cruise passengers has not yet been studied in detail. To address this, our argument builds on the comparability of cinemas and cruise ships. They share similar characteristics as modern and postmodern places, as heterotopias, and as places of dreams. Both are places of illusion, places of compensation, and places where one can escape…