Rabat Hosts the First Edition of the Annual Forum of the Royal Institute for Research on the History of Morocco
The Royal Institute for Research on the History of Morocco – Academy of the Moroccan Kingdom is organizing its first annual forum on May 8 and 9 at its headquarters in Rabat, under the title “The Historical Lesson in Moroccan Universities,” according to an institute statement.
The statement noted that this forum, which is part of its scientific activities and organized in partnership with the History Department at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences in Rabat, aims to contribute to the discussion about the historical lesson and enhance the thinking around it alongside history departments and pathways in Moroccan universities.
The same source clarified that the first edition of its annual meeting is dedicated to the theme “The Historical Lesson in Moroccan Universities,” involving heads of history departments, coordinators of undergraduate and master’s pathways, as well as professors and researchers, to focus on assessing the current state of the historical lesson.
It was also mentioned that the activities of the first day of the forum will commence with an opening lecture to be delivered by Professor Abdel Rahim Benhadda, on “The Evolution of Teaching History in Moroccan Universities,” followed by a series of lectures addressing topics related to the historical lesson, such as “The Presence of Social History,” “Ancient History and World History,” and “Economic History in Teaching History in Moroccan Universities.” Other lectures will shed light on the historical lesson and its relationship with scholarly communities as well as its situation within educational reforms.
On the second day, participants will engage in workshops to evaluate the current pedagogical framework and present proposals, aiming to produce recommendations through which the institute hopes to collaborate with other institutions and actors to enhance the quality of university-level history education and support the development of pedagogical culture in various training contexts within the field of history in Moroccan universities.
The statement added that teaching history in Moroccan universities has undergone several phases, as it “has sometimes responded to the nature of social, political, and scientific demands and has been significantly linked to developments arising from the perspective of teaching this subject and the regulatory documents concerning the roles assigned to the university in general.” Furthermore, it has “shaped the successive reform policies in higher education pursued by the relevant ministry, which have significantly influenced the status of the historical lesson within the academic field, the conditions under which historians practice their profession, and the overall climate in which historical knowledge is produced within the university. Consequently, in recent years, a ‘crisis discourse’ surrounding the historical lesson has emerged. This discourse has been accompanied by an urgent call to evaluate the trajectory of history teaching and to examine the key turning points it has encountered.”
