I’m Giving a Masterclass!

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Hey everyone. I haven’t been as active lately as I’ve been dealing with some stuff that I’ll eventually write about, including grief. I just came back from Lebanon for the first time in a while, largely to visit my grandmother, who is quite sick, only to find upon my return that my kid got pneumonia.

I’m typing these words on my phone on a hospital bed (God bless the NHS) so apologies for typos or potentially weird formatting issues. I’ll fix those later.

These past couple of weeks have been rough. My old puppy, Flip, died in my arms after nearly 14 years of companionship, and I am grieving him. Hard. My 89 year old teta (grandma) is not doing too well, and she finally started telling me stories from Palestine. Being in Lebanon was surreal, as it was my first time back since Israel unleashed armageddon on large parts of an already tiny country. Shortly after, as I mentioned, my partner and I are dealing with our kid having pneumonia and us returning to 24/7 hospital stays less than two years after spending over 100 days at the NICU.

So yeah, it has not been fun. I’m preparing a couple of essays: first on grieving m buddy and forcing myself to let him go, and the second on hearing the incessant noise of Israeli drones over Beirut. Perhaps a piece on my teta too.

Coming soon, stay tuned etc.

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For now, I wish to talk to y’all about an upcoming class on modern Lebanese history and politics that I’m giving, and about which I’m very excited. You can also check out the most recent episode of The Fire These Times as I talk about it over there as well.

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I’ll be giving an online class on modern Lebanese history and politics. It will be entitled "Beware of Small States: Lebanon from 1975 to 2025" and will take place over a period of 5 weeks, one session per week, starting in mid-January. They are 2 hours on average, but they can go on for longer as needed. They are structured but informal, and I encourage you to feel free to ask me questions outside of class as well. Participation is encouraged but of course not mandatory.

Details are all below. If you’re interested, please book your spot asap as the class is almost at capacity.

What?

In this 5-parts class, you will get an overview of Lebanese history and politics from 1975, with a focus on the so-called ‘postwar’ from 1990 onward (I’ll also explain why I refer to it as ‘so-called’)

We will go beyond sensationalist headlines and shallow coverage, and beyond simplistic, top-down explanations for the country. Instead of a linear timeline of events, which you can get from Wikipedia anyway, you will get a messy one. After all, politics is not linear. Political actors evoke events from the recent or not-so-recent past as part of their politics in the present. In addition to the below, I will use personal stories as someone who grew up in Lebanon in a very conservative, at times even Far Right, Christian environment, to explain how my own personal journey away from right-wing and towards left-wing, quasi-anarchist, politics helped me understand Lebanon better.

When?

Saturdays, 4-6pm UK time: Jan 17, Jan 24, Jan 31, Feb 7, Feb 14. They may go beyond 2 hours if we feel like it.

Outline

(Participants will get the extended syllabus with the readings)

• Week 1 | The stories we tell ourselves about this painfully ordinary country | Sat Jan 17 (2+ hours)

• Week 2 | Five academic-y concepts that are easier to understand than they seem | Sat Jan 24 (2+ hours)

• Week 3 | We are the children of the children of war | Sat Jan 31 (2+ hours)

• Week 4 | From life in the midst of history to the collapse | Sat Feb 7 (2+ hours)

• Week 5 | Lebanon yesterday, today, tomorrow | Sat Feb 14 (3+ hours)

Fees

This class costs $300, unless you get a discount.

If you cannot afford it at all: there will be a few free / discounted spots reserved per class. In that case, you will be asked to pay what you can. All I ask is that should your financial situation change one day to please pay the rest, whenever that may be. I genuinely want to make this as accessible as possible.

Discounts

For previous participants

• 30% if you’ve taken another class with me before

• 50% if you are retaking the same class

For Hauntologies subscribers (past or present)

• 50% off for paid subscribers

• 100% off for Founding Members

What you’ll get

• Access to all 5 sessions of course

• Lifetime access to the Google Drive with links and resources, continuously updated. These will include texts with my commentary, my dissertation, audio files and video files.

• Lifetime access to the Hauntologies newsletter without paying extra, if you want

• Discounts on future classes

• An invitation to join a Signal group, if you want

How to Pay

Please pay as soon as you can to book your spot. The easiest way to pay is:

• Through my Ko-Fi account as it allows Debit/Credit Card, Stripe and Paypal.

• Bank transfer.

  (Let me know if you prefer this option on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.com or Signal @ ayoub.02)

Let me know when you’ve paid / if you encounter any issues please!

If for whatever reason you can no longer attend the class, just let me know in advance so that I can book your spot for the next one (estimated in March/April or April/May).

You can of course request a refund if you change your mind. I only ask that you do so reasonably in advance.

What’s Next?

I'm planning on doing more of these in 2026, inshallah. If you'd like to be contacted about any of these, lemme know. You'd get 30% off for any of these if you already took a class with me.

• Postwar Hauntings: Modern Lebanon Through Its Cinema

• The Ghosts of Israel’s Future

• Against Multipolar Imperialism

• James Baldwin’s Radical Optimism

• Cancelling the Apocalypse

Episode

I recorded an episode of The Fire These Times in which I go through what you can expect from the class. Here’s the Spotify link (it’s on all podcast platforms)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ZtPEBJgruXo4ToiNFyxZ8?si=OG5KMPDgTJ-07rDPt2umyw

You can contact me by email at ayoub@thefirethesetimes.com or on Signal at @ ayoub.02