The collectivization of lebanese national identity from contending historical narratives. (c2014)

Abstract

A major obstacle to the formation of a national identity is the lack of a unified national memory. Since the country’s 1943 independence, Lebanese have disagreed on a single historic narrative and failed to produce a unified history school textbook. Persistent differences among the various political and sectarian communities on what, why and how historic events took place are to blame. The thesis examines the correlations between the construction of collective memory, teaching history, and, subsequently, the formation of a national identity. It explores strategies that can help establish a unified curriculum for teaching the history of the Lebanese Civil War and the foundation of a collective memory through different narratives. It claims that a unified history book based on contending stories from different political and sectarian perspective might be possible to be collected and streamed into educational curriculum. This theme is tested through a comparative focus group research design that examine the impacts of teaching pedagogies through a single and multiple narratives collected from various contending political and sectarian discourses.