The History Textbook Crisis: A Historical Background

The cultural dialogue in Lebanon brings into play attempts to build up sectarian identities, by seeking arguments in support of the claims of each sect whether in terms of origin, language, culture or past events that stretch back in history. This study tries to: 1) Explore the beginnings of the development of history as an independent subject in the curricula of schools throughout the regions of “Lebanon”, whether Ottoman state schools or private schools, missionary or local. It also looks into the connections between these curricula and the aims of the foreign missions working in the field, and the fierce inter-fighting among them on one hand, and  the connections with the local political power balance at both the local and the extended Ottoman level, on the other. 2) Take stock of the importance and development of the history subject in the school curricula after the creation of Greater Lebanon in 1920, and analyze the attempts made to change or revise it.