The Druze: Celebrating a Thousand Years of Diversity

In the last decade, the Middle East and the world around it has witnessed the rise of several extremist groups, which seek to drag the region and its people back to an imagined past, which in their understanding, epitomizes the golden age of Islam. These groups’ fallacious readings of history is easily debunked by a simple historical investigation into the pluralistic and diverse composition of societies across the region, under the rule of the successive Islamic empires or later within the modern nation states. This mosaic of both sects and ideas across time and space stand in stark opposition to this extremist exclusionist rhetoric preached by some of these radical factions and by some of their western opponents.For the Druze, a small Islamic sect, this diverse setting proved instrumental for its survival and development over the last ten centuries, permitting it to grow and even rule or administer Muslim domains in Mamluk and Ottoman Bilad al-Sham, playing pivotal roles in the sociopolitical history of the region, specifically in the evolution of the Lebanese entity as well as modern Syria and Jordan.The Center of Arts and Humanities at the American University of Beirut is organizing an international conference which will bring together leading researchers who have contributed to the field of Middle Eastern Studies with particular reference to the Druze. The conference will focus on the political, social and cultural evolution and/ or political role of the Druze over the past millennium. This two-day conference which will be held at the American University of Beirut in October 30 & 31 2018 will also feature a number of activities covering art, food and culture allowing the public to become more familiar with these socio-cultural tools which help the Druze community to maintain a distinct identity while simultaneously being part and parcel of their societies.While this conference essentially focuses on the Druze, it will certainly incorporate the stories of many of the groups which inhabited the same regions and which through conflict and often accommodation and cooperation came to define the rich history of the Druze and of the region as a whole.

*Simultaneous translation available

الدروز: األف عام من التعددية و احل�ضارة

شهد الرشق األوسط والعامل من حوله يف العقد املايض ظهور العديد من الجامعات املتطرفة التي تسعى إىل جر املنطقة وشعوبها إىل ماض متخـيل

د، وفقا ملفهومهم، العرص الذهبي لإلسالم. بيد أنه من املمكن وبسهولة كشف زيف القراءات املغلوطة للتاريخ التي قامت عليها هذه يجس

ع للمجتمعات يف املنطقة، تحت حكم اإلمرباطوريات اإلسالمية املتعاقبة د واملتنو ط يتناول التكوين املتعد املجموعات من خالل بحث تاريخي مبس

لهذا الخطاب هذه البنية الفسيفسائية من الفرق واألفكار املختلفة عرب الزمان واملكان عن تعارض بي أو داخل الدول القومية الحديثة الحقا. وتعرب

اإلقصايئ املتطرف الذي تبرش به بعض هذه الفصائل الراديكالية وبعض خصومها الغربيي.

ال يف مجتمعاتهم مام ع القيام بدور فع دين(، وهم طائفة إسالمية الجذور، قليلة العدد، فقد أتاح لهم اإلطار التعددي املتنو بالنسبة للدروز )املوح

مكنهم ليس فقط من البقاء والتطور والنمو عىل مدى القرون العرش املنرصمة، بل مكنهم أيضا من لعب أدوار قيادية و حكم وإدارة مقاطعات

إسالمية يف نطاق بالد الشام، خصوصا يف العهود األيوبية واململوكية والعثامنية، حيث قاموا بأدوار بالغة األهمية يف تشكيل التاريخ االجتامعي

والسيايس للمنطقة بشكل عام، و يف تطور الكيان اللبناين بشكل خاص، فضال عن أدوار هامة يف تاريخ سوريا الحديثة واألردن.

ينظم مركز الفنون واآلداب يف الجامعة األمريكية يف بريوت مؤمترا دوليا بعنوان:

»الدروز: ألف عام من التعددية والحضارة« يومي الثالثاء واألربعاء يف 30 - 31 أكتوبر 2018. يضم ثلة من الباحثي البارزين الذين ساهموا يف إثراء

مجال دراسات الرشق األوسط واهتموا بشكل خاص مبساهامت الدروز يف مواطنهم. ويركز هذا املؤمتر عىل التطور السيايس واالجتامعي والثقايف

للدروز. كام ينظم املركز عددا من األنشطة الفنية والثقافية، بالتزامن مع املؤمتر، مام يتيح للجمهور أن يصبح أكرث دراية باألدوات االجتامعية

والثقافية التي متيز املجتمع الدرزي.

وبينام يركز هذا املؤمتر بشكل أسايس عىل الدروز، فإنه من غري املمكن أن ال يأخذ بعي االعتبار اإلشارة إىل العديد من املجموعات التي سكنت

املنطقة نفسها، والتي من خالل التنازع أحيانا، أو عرب التوافق والتعاون يف أغلب األحيان، أثرت التاريخ الغني للدروز وتاريخ املنطقة بشكل عام.

*الرتجمة الفورية متوفرة

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Opening CeremonyAssembly Hall

Registration

Opening session 9:30-11:00

Abdulrahim Abu HusaynProfessor, Department of History & Archeology; Director, Center for Arts and Humanities, AUB

Fadlo KhuriMD. President, AUB

Abbas Al-HalabiJudge

Keynote Address 11:00-12:15

Engin AkarliProfessor, Department of History, Istanbul Şehir UniversityGlimpses of Druze History: Preservation of Dignity and Community in Oneness with Humanity

12:30-2:00 Lunch Break

Panel 1: Druze in the service of Empire and Nation College Hall2:00-3:00

Chair: Ilham Khuri-MakdisiProfessor, Department of History, Northeastern University in Boston

Michael ProvenceProfessor, Department of History, University of San DiegoWhat was “Druze” about Opposition to Adib Shishakli in 1954?

Fikri ÇiçekPh.D. Candidate, Department of History, University of MinnesotaDisentangling Good and Wrong: An Ottoman-Druze Bureaucrat and Intellectual Ma’nzada Husayn and a Puritanical Islamic Movement of Kadızadelis in the Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Crisis

Panel 2: Intercommunal Relations: Druze and Others3:00-4:30

Chair: Samir SeikalyProfessor, Department of History & Archeology, AUB

Leila FawazProfessor, Department of History, Tufts UniversityReflections on Sectarian Relations in Nineteenth Century Lebanon and Syria

Raymond HamdenConsultant in Forensic & Political Psychology at the Foundation for International Human RelationsMuwaHiddoun to Druze and Back Again: In Search of Identity

Chaady RadwanHealth Science Specialist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs› Center of Innovation on Disability & Rehabilitation Research (CINDRR)Discourses on the sweet burden: Applying research to facilitate community-wide heritage preservation strategies

4:30-5:00 Coffee Break

Panel 3: Druze in International Venues5:00-6:15

Chair: Tufan BuzpinarProfessor, Department of History, Istanbul Şehir University

Tarek Abu HusseinPhD Candidate, History and Middle East Studies, Harvard UniversityPele, Pepsi and the Promotion of Druze-Lebanese Culture

Cafer Sar-KayaPh.D. Candidate, Department of History, Boğaziçi UniversityThe Druze Representation in the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Panel 4: Druze in WWI9:00-10:30

Chair: Dr. Birgit SchäblerDirector of Orient-institute, Beirut

M. Talha ÇiçekAssistant Professor, Department of History, Istanbul Medeniyet University Liberty in Return for Loyalty: Cemal Pasha and the Druze in the Great War

Graham PittsPostdoctoral Scholar, North Carolina State UniversityAn Ecologically Autonomous Community? The Druze during World War I

Reem BailonyAssistant Professor, Department of History, Agnes Scott College GeorgiaNew York's Al-Bayan and the Druze Diaspora in the Interwar Period

Intervention: Mr. Fadi ZuhayriChairman of the American Druze Foundation

Panel 5: Druze Institutions and Institutional Building10:45-12:15

Chair: Abdulrahim Abu-HusaynProfessor, Department of History & Archeology; Director, Center for Arts and Humanities, AUB

Abbas Al-HalabiJudge املوحدون الدروز واملؤسسات: النضال من أجل استمرار الدور الريادي

Makram Rabah Lecturer, Department of History & Archeology, AUBIn Search for Land: The Druze and the American University of Beirut

Alex HenleyLecturer, Study of Religion, University of OxfordMashyakhat al-‘Aql: The Making of a Modern Lebanese Druze Institution

12:15- 1:30 Lunch Break

Intervention: Dr. Makram Bou NassarPresident of Social Work League

Panel 6: Druze Intellectuals 1:30-2:30

Chair: Cemal KafadarProfessor, Department of History, Harvard University

Fikriye KaramanPhD Candidate, Department of History, Istanbul Şehir UniversityChallenges and Responses: Amir Shakib Arslan in World War 1

Ellen FleischmannProfessor, Department of History, University of Dayton, Ohio Searching for Najla: A Druze Woman Intellectual of Her Time

Panel 7: Druze History and Historiography2:30-3:30

Chair: Michael ProvenceProfessor, Department of History, University of California in San Diego

Said Abou ZakiPhD Candidate, Department of History, University of Saint Josephأهمية املصادر الشفهية يف دراسة التاريخ: سلوك عقال الدروز تجاه العنف مثاال

Naila KaidbeyLecturer, Department of History & Archeology, AUBDruze in the Historical Writings of Ottoman Bilad al-Sham

3:30-3:45 Coffee Break

Panel 8: Music, Theater and Architecture3:45-5:15

Chair: Hani Hassan Instructor, Philosophy Department; the Civilization Sequence Program, AUB

Kathleen HoodProfessor, Department of Ethnomusicology, University of California - Los AngelesThe Jawfiyya: Linking the Past and the Present

Michael M NajjarAssociate Professor, Department of Theatre Arts, University of OregonThe Druze in Film and on the Theatrical Stage: Representations, Fictions, and Inventions

Makram al-KadiLecturer, Department of Architecture, AUBPray-grounds: The Politics of Religion in the Architectural Typologies

Panel 9: Exploring Diversity: Language and Cultural Heritage in Artworks.5:30-6:30

Chair: Nadia El-Cheikh Professor, Department of History & Archeology; Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, AUB

Zena el KhalilArtist-in-residence, Center for Arts and Humanities, AUB

Rania JaberLecturer, Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Media Studies, AUB

Hala SchoukairPresident, Saloua Raouda Choucair Foundation

OPENING OF ART EXHIBIT & COCKTAIL RECEPTION

Women: Diversity and DisruptionThe AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery

Opening remarks

Nadia El-Cheikh Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, AUB

Nahla Khaddage Bou DiabDeputy General Manager-COO of AM Bank.