"It Was our Home and Sadly We Will Never Return": Nostalgia and the Circulation of Images in Lebanese Jewish Virtual Communities

Abstract: By focusing on photographs pertaining to Beirut's historic Jewish neighborhood and central synagogue, I address in this article the mobilization of collective nostalgia on three Lebanese Jewish Facebook groups that provide a realm for debating, challenging, and reconstructing concepts of belonging while remembering a shared homeland from the diaspora. Furthermore, I explore how the nostalgic circulation and sharing of family photographs and anonymous snapshots of the community's pre-Civil War life privileges a particular perspective on how life once was, and by excluding other realities from both the photographic frame and historical narrative, creates a community history through which to imagine the future.