The first Algerian university to establish “Knowledge Day.” The thinker Boumediene Bouzid, Secretary General of the Supreme Islamic Council, lectures at the University of the Valley.
In its first activity since its recent establishment on December 27, 2022, the “Knowledge Day” Committee at the University of Martyr Hamou Lakhdar El Oued hosted the thinker Professor Boumediene Bouzid, Secretary-General of the Supreme Islamic Council, to present an intellectual lecture entitled “Identity and Narratives of Memory - Immunity and Civilizational Interaction” as part of its monthly intellectual symposium program.
The University of Martyr Hamou Lakhdar is the first university institution at the national level to initiate the establishment of “Knowledge Day” under the direction of the University Director, in accordance with the circular of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research No. 1936 issued on December 27, 2022.
The symposium was supervised by the honorary president of the Knowledge Day Committee, Mr. University Director, Professor Omar Farhati, in the company of the committee’s chairman, Dr. Khalifa Qaid, and the participation of its members, Dr. Abdullah Raqiq, Dr. Abdul Qader Azzam Awadi, and Dr. Raja Adaaika, in addition to a distinguished presence of university cadres, including professors, writers, intellectuals, media professionals, and students.
The University President welcomed the University family to the guest of Knowledge Day, who he said is an influential scientific figure and a thinker who produces knowledge and works on issues of history, national memory and identity, calling on the attendees, especially the students, to benefit from his scientific contributions.
The committee also identified the objectives of establishing the “Knowledge Day” as intended by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. According to him, the “Knowledge Day” aims to enhance the openness of higher education institutions to their external social environment and to value their role in practicing scientific, technological and cultural influence by inviting scientific and cultural figures from all over the country to hold lectures and meetings in the university environment at least once a month. The initiative aims to enable the Algerian university to play its natural and pioneering role in leading the public debate by attracting competencies with a proven scientific reputation, embracing constructive ideas and sharing pioneering cultural and artistic knowledge and experiences, not to mention the vitality and dynamism that this will add to life in the university environment. The head of the committee introduced the members who formed it: Dr. Abdullah Raqiq and Dr. Abdelkader Azzam Awadi from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Dr. Raja Adayka from the French Department at the Faculty of Arts and Languages, and Dr. Shaib Al-Abyad from the Faculty of Technology. Dr. Abdullah Raqiq presented a brief biography of the guest of the symposium, which was chaired by Dr. Abdul Qader Azzam Awadi.
The thinker Boumediene Bouzid raised a number of issues about identity, memory and history, which are issues that currently constitute an intellectual and cultural concern for many interested people. He considered that the Algerian identity was formed historically from several new elements, including Arab-Amazigh intermarriage, which hosted common values with its Islamic dimension in its universal unifying concept. He also pointed to the divisive, conflicting dualities that hindered creativity and prevented the reshaping of the historical event to resolve crises according to a forward-looking vision.
The solution that the thinker Boumediene Bouzid sees to get out of the circle of crises is represented - according to him - by cognitive integration to understand the issues of identity, history and memory, pointing out that there are two issues that affected the formation of the Algerian collective identity and memory, which are defending the unity of the group and defending the borders and repelling external aggression, stressing that the reshaping of the Algerian memory took place in the 19th century jihad within the Sufi order institution and during the time of the national movement and the liberation revolution. Dr. Boumediene Bouzid elaborated on shedding light on many dark points and opening some records of the national historical memory and its relationship to identity and human liberation, influenced by Western liberalism within the productive interaction of a new stage.
The intervention was followed by a number of questions and qualitative comments from the audience, which enriched several aspects of the valuable lecture.
At the end of its intellectual symposium, the “Knowledge Day” Committee honored its guest with the “Knowledge Medal,” the first medal presented to an influential intellectual figure who produces ideas and re-reads the events of national history to shape the national identity and memory.
