Druze identity study
Definition
This identity study analyzes the present situation of the Druze community, as a whole, in itself and within its environment.
Identity
‘’Identity’’, is a concept.
Others words for it could be ‘’personality’’, or ‘’unicity’’, or ‘’specificity’’. Or ‘’soul’’.
A French historian, André Siegfried, wrote a book, ‘’The soul of the nations’’.
In this study, it means the soul, the central idea that characterizes the Druze
community.
As examples, it could be said that for United States it is ‘’power’’, for Spain it is
‘’pride’’, for Italy it is ‘’creativity’’, for France it is ‘’humanism’’, for Japan it is
‘’tradition’’…..
Attached to ‘’identity’’ is the notion of ‘’permanence’’.
Identity comes from the Latin word, ‘’idem’’, the same.
That means that the Druze identity is the constant element which insured the continuity of the unicity of this community through centuries.
‘’Identity’’ is a force.
Permanence is only possible when the concept is also a force that cross time. If not, the concept would be a dead element, no more acting, to be studied from an historical point of view.
The Druze identity to be found comes from its very roots and is still present.
It is faithful and respectful of the past, should inspire the present and conduct the future of the community.
Study
This study is an operational study.
It is not an academic study. There are already plenty of them.
I applied to it the methodology I developed when I was working professionally in
France on companies identities, with the concrete objective to help them to better
conduct their business.
This study aims at given to the Druze community a path to help it to better conduct
its present and future actions.
Druze
This study applies to the Druze in Israel
At first the study looked for the identity of the Middle-East Druze.
As it appeared that it was not possible to include the study of the Druze from Lebanon and Syria in it, those two communities were just included in the analysis of the environment of the Israeli Druze community.