What Remains After a Revolution? Waste, City and More-than-Human Community

This article is an attempt to introduce a new analytical tool to the academic discourse on revolution: the redefined category of waste. This tool aims to create alternative narratives about the revolution, challenging the two dominant narratives – one rooted in a modernist vision of revolution, the other stemming from a long-term perspective. The proposed alternative seeks to move beyond the dichotomy of victory and defeat, as well as to break with the perspective on a revolution based on a linear perception of time. The article examines previous research in the waste category, exploring its relationship with value, desire and materiality. A new research tool springs from analyses of examples from contemporary Beirut. These analyses are based on both existing sources and the results of the author’s field research in Lebanon