An ethnographic and diachronic examination of the commemoration of violent events- battles and massacres-in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon shows the shift in mnemonic frames that helps one to understand political contention and strategies of struggle. The transformations in the representation and remembrance of battles and massacres in response to particular audiences and contexts reveal the dynamic and constructed nature of commemorative practices. The persistence of some commemorative narratives at times and their oblivion at others depend on the character and role of local institutions on one hand-political organizations or nongovernmental organizations-and the available and authorized transnational discourses on the other. © 2008 Sage Publications.

Martyrs Guerrillas Nationalist commemoration Palestinians Political violence

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