BHS at “The Dialects of Coexistence and Peace-building in Lebanon” Conference

On Friday, 26 September 2025, the Head of the Social Studies Department in BHS who is also the Vice President of the Lebanese Association of History (LAH), Mrs. Jihane Y. Francis, participated in a conference titled: “The Dialects of Coexistence and Peace-building in Lebanon”. This conference was organized by: أكاديميات وأكاديميون من أجل لبنان, and LAH.

Mrs. Francis was the reporter at the round table of “Arts and Culture and Their Relation to Civil Peace”. This conference was inaugurated by the Swiss Ambassador, H.E. Marion Weichelt and the Minister of Education and Higher Education, H.E. Dr. Rima Karami.

A distinct amount of topics that vary across many concepts were discussed in this conference, such as:

• – We Are in a New World: Artificial Intelligence, E-Governance, and Coexistence
• – The War of Narratives in Lebanon: Do We Really Need One Narrative to Build a Shared Future?
• – Discussions on the Impact of Economic Approaches on Coexistence
• – Citizenship and Globalization in the Face of Primary Identities
• – Women Pillars for Building Sustainable Civil Peace: Challenges and Prospects
• – Media, New Media, and Social Media: Building/Undermining the State, Civil Peace, and Social Stability
• – Social Pluralism: Between the Boundaries of Particularities in the Lebanese Identity and the Risk of Exploitation
• – Is Education Really Serving Civil Peace in Lebanon?
• – Where is the Citizen in Lebanon’s “Democracy” Today?
• – Arts and Culture and Their Relation to Civil Peace

The participation in such a conference helps in enriching the exchange of various ideologies in diverse societies as it aids the learners in different ways of reflecting through the learning objectives of the social studies subjects, which is creating a new perspective for the learners through linking what they’re learning to what they’re going through in their everyday lives (from hardships to their solutions). This conference provides an opportunity for us to gather at tables that highlights the ongoing conflicts our society faces and to explore the ways we, as academics, can work to overcome them. The table Mrs. Francis was on came up with several suggestions relating to the importance of spreading peace by harnessing the power of knowledge and the arts to connect us (as Lebanese citizens) to our shared history. The goal is for our diversity to serve as a point of connection rather than division.