Is there usually a sectarian character about other Lebanese emigrant communities abroad as well?
Hourani: …It depends. If you are in Lebanon, you don’t ask anyone if they are Lebanese or not. First you ask, are you Christian or Muslim? … [But] when you are abroad, they ask you, “Are you Lebanese?” They don’t ask you whether you’re Christian or Muslim. The second question is [your sect]… And then they move even deeper than that. “Which village are you from?” There are layers of connecting with people. Yes, there are sectarian congregations, they congregate in one area. They go to this particular church, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only network. It’s very fluid. What happened in 2005 is very interesting… In the United States…the Lebanese lobby, for example, was mostly Christian… What has happened since 2005 is that other people are actually joining. So you see that with the shift among the Sunnis following the assassination of Hariri, especially against Syria… [Lebanese politics] shows in the diaspora, in the lobbying… [Christian Lebanese] have been joined in lobbying their gov
