Beirut Arab University- Tripoli Campus and Tripoli Vector Lions Club organized a conference entitled “Heritage in Our Life”. The event was attended by Mr. Mokbel Malak, representing HE Mr. Najeeb Mikati, Mr. Mohamed Kamal Ziehdeh representing Minister Ashraf Reefi, Dr. Mostafa El Helweh representing Minister Mohamed El Safadi, Dr. Saad El Din Fakhoury representing MP Robert Fadel, HE Dr. Khaled Ziiedeh, Lions Governor of the Region Mourched Hajj Chahine, BAU President Prof. Dr. Amr Galal El Adawi, General Secretary of the National UNESCO Commission Dr. Zahida Darwiche, BAU Vice-President for Tripoli Branch Affairs Prof. Dr. Khaled Baghdadi, BAU Deputy Secretary General for Tripoli Branch Affairs Mr. Mohamed Hammoud, Branch Coordinator, Mr. Ahmed Sankari, as well as the faculty directors at the Branch and a large crowd of members of the civil society from all over Lebanon.
After the Lebanese National Anthem was played, Dr. Jean Touma, Conference Coordinator, spoke, highlighting the necessity to identify the points of intersection between heritage and originality on the one hand, and the changes and transformations sweeping across the region.
This was followed by a word delivered by the editor in chief of “Research Publication” Periodical, Eng. Issam Obeid, who stated that the publication of these studies has provided a rich reference on the Lebanese heritage.
Mr. Ayman Maaliki, head of Tripoli Vector Lions Club, focused in his speech on the objectives of the Lions Club, which are mainly to offer guidance, consultation and awareness programs on the importance on the cultural heritage. Engineer Mourched Hajj Chahine specified the heritage that reiterates the dissemination of the culture of a closely-knit family, hospitality and respect.
Prof. Dr. Amr Galal El Adawi, president of Beirut Arab University stated in his speech that there is no contradiction between preserving one’s heritage and modernization, since the heritage that we seek to revive today was considered technology at those times in history.
The first session was moderated by Lawyer Rasheed Jalkh who stated that our heritage is an image of a regenerating Lebanese past.
Dr. Marlene Haydar Najjar discussed in her presentation to necessity to preserve popular poetry. She concluded that it is not sufficient to identity and document one or more elements of the non-material cultural heritage, and hence registering it in the National Heritage Record. Popular poetry was, therefore, added to the representative list of human heritage at the UNESCO. The greatest challenge, yet, is to manage these elements in the post-registration phase to ensure their continuity.
Dr. Miriam Andraous Kawwal focused in her presentation on the image and heritage in children’s bed-time songs, stating that these songs are an authentic source for the depiction of the nation’s characteristics, traditions and customs. They are also one form for expressing their joys, concerns and experiences.
The Film Director Hussam Khayyat analyzed in his presentation on Heritage and Cinema the movies made by the Rahbani brothers, with special focus on the Lebanese movie “El Bosta”. He concluded that the younger generations call for the revival of the heritage without discarding or destroying the old, for the aim is to preserve it, and to renovate and improve what has been damaged.
The final presentation in the session was delivered in French by Prof. Nadia Iskandarani, who surveyed and analyzed some of the aspects of the Lebanese heritage as traced in the writings of the French travelers of the 19th century.
The second session was moderated by Dr. Nabil Harb, Director of the Faculty of Architecture at BAU, Tripoli Branch. He maintained that the Lebanese heritage is both rich and diverse, ranging from a material heritage extending from the days of the Phoenicians down to the present day, to a non-material heritage handed down in its various cities and villages.
The first presentation was delivered by Dr. Samir Itani and was entitled “Heritage and its Role in Shaping Identity”. He stated that is it essential for any nation to modernize its heritage, since this is proof of the continuity and distinction of its culture, and thus its identity. Dr. Maha Kayyal’s presentation was entitled “Folklore Identity and Tourism”, and she argued that all this mobility of the Lebanese heritage may be promising but not sufficient to establish sustainable developmental policies to market it for touristic purposes, whether locally, regionally or internationally.
Dr. Ali El Ali entitled his presentation “A Village Painting”, and he focused on the paintings that have been inspired by village life. These represent a rural heritage that was both a source of inspiration for the artists and a return to spontaneity and values. The session was concluded with a presentation by Eng. Wassim Naghi, entitled “Heritage in Architecture”, which dealt with the transfer of cultural forms and nature into the realm of architecture.
At the end of the conference, a set of books on the Lebanese popular heritage was distributed to the presenters.
iConnect
