Die Verhandlung der Dekolonisierung im Klassenraum:: französisch-libanesische Interaktion während der Mandatszeit 1920–1943

Abstract

Negotiating Decolonization in the Classroom: French-Lebanese Interaction during the Mandate Period (1920–1943)

This article deals with the history of French schools in Lebanon during the mandate period (1920–1943) and examines their contribution to the process of decolonization in Lebanon. It argues that French institutions of catholic, protestant, jewish and secular obedience constituted places where decolonization was negotiated between the different actors involved in the activities of the schools (French and Lebanese staff of the schools, their superiors of their head offices in France, the politicians and bureaucrats of the French government in Paris and Beirut and the Lebanese parents and notables). On the one hand, as the article demonstrates, their interaction stengthened the French colonial presence in Lebanon. On the other hand, however, the French schools also constituted spaces for nationalistic claims from different Lebanese nationalists. As a result of different clienteles and differing relations with the French government, French schools either witnessed the former or the latter aspect.