History of Tunisia

Le tasfih (littéralement « fermage », « scellement ») est un rituel profane de protec-tion de la virginité féminine auquel se soumettent par deux fois certaines jeunes filles tunisiennes, obtenant ainsi le statut de msafha: avant leur entrée dans la puberté (séquencefermeture) ; et avant leur entrée dans la conjugalité (séquence ouverture). Pratiquées en mi-lieu urbain et rural, des variantes du rituel coexistent. C’est dans un contexte familial et féminin qu’une opératrice (mère, tante, grand-mère, matrone, voisine, etc.) effectue une légèreincision sur le genou, recueillant le sang avec sept fruits secs. À chaque ingestion, l’enfant doit alors prononcer une formule d’engagement impliquant l’impuissance sexuelle de tous lesprétendants avant son mariage : « je suis un mur, et le fils d’autrui un fil ». La veille des noces, la jeune femme offre sa virginité en inversant la formule.

Dans de nombreux pays, les historiens se sont efforcés de reconstituer la population d'époques passées en s'appuyant sur les documents fiscaux (par exemple sur les redevables de la taille en France). Malgré la double incertitude sur les sources elles-mêmes et sur leur utilisation à des fins démographiques, de nombreux résultats intéressants ont été ainsi obtenus pour diverses régions européennes. Beaucoup plus rares sont les travaux de ce genre hors d'Europe. De ce fait, les recherches de M. Jean Ganiage sur la Tunisie attirent l'attention. Il présente ici les résultats de nouveaux travaux assis sur le rendement de la mejba avant le protectorat.

Between 1818 and 1820 Tunisia was struck by a serious epidemic of plague, which caused the deaths of thousands of people. In this context, European consuls present in the North African country reported in the relations to their governments news about the spread and progress of contagion, the mortality rate and the measures taken by the Tunisian authorities during the emergency: although sometimes tainted by prejudices or inaccuracies, these relations are a direct testimony to the plague in Tunisia and its effects. In this article are presented the references to the epidemic in the relations of Sabaudian consul in Tunis, Gaetano Palma di Borgofranco, with particular attention to the tendentially negative imagine of the Tunisian governement and population in these relations. Through the analysis of documents preserved in the "Archivi di Stato" of Genoa and Turin emerge, therefore, not only the practical data relating to the epidemic but also the ideas and attitudes of a nineteenth-century European diplomat towards a Muslim society during a health emergency.

Conclusions (in French):

Si l’on veut essayer de résumer de façon très synthétique les composantes dégagées, on relève :
– un fond zénète, à l’intérieur duquel on constate plusieurs traits communs avec le parler de Figuig ;
– une composante nefousi (plutôt le parler de Yefren que le parler de Fassato) ;
– une composante “ghadamsi” dont l’origine n’est pas facile à saisir, et dont il serait intéressant de connaître les vicissitudes ;
– quelques rares éléments “kabyles” de provenance probablement, kétamienne ;
– une innovation phonétique partagée seulement par le touareg, indice, peut-être, d’une ancienne composante hawwara.

El aborto y los derechos de las mujeres en Túnez: un caso excepcional en el Medio Oriente. por Mg. Ignacio Rullansky 1 La legalización de la práctica abortiva en el Medio Oriente contemporáneo constituye hoy en día una causa por la cual distintos colectivos feministas se han y siguen ​ movilizándose en virtud de las restricciones de múltiple índole que se oponen a ella. Las circunstancias varían según los casos, pero los factores más eminentemente vinculados al rechazo generalizado a la legalización del aborto en esta vasta región, a excepción de casos puntuales, representan un rasgo generalizado que se desprende de valores culturales tradicionales y a interpretaciones de principios religiosos: ​ debe reconocerse que el Islam no ofrece una lectura unívoca sobre el tema​. Sin embargo, aquí es preciso introducir una salvedad no menos importante y que radica en la tradición constitucional de las sociedades meso-orientales, genealógicamente emparentada con distintos modelos europeos adoptados a partir del Siglo XIX que, como no debería sorprender, también relegaban la práctica del aborto a la ilegalidad. El aborto y el uso de contraceptivos es estrictamente ilegal en casi todas sus formas en el Mundo Árabe​ , salvo en Túnez y ​ Bahrein​ ; en Egipto y Sudán, existen previsiones y casos donde sí se contempla. En esta entrada nos centraremos en el caso tunecino, dada su excepcional característica de haber sido un Estado pionero de la región del Norte de África y el Mundo Árabe, tanto en su tradición constitucional como en su legislación sobre el derecho al aborto, sancionado en 1965 y reformado en 1973, y sobre los derechos de las mujeres. Un poco de historia sobre la constitución y los derechos civiles en la región Es en la época del " Tanzimat " o de " reorganización " del Imperio Otomano (1839-1876) que las distintas provincias toman contacto con los imperios europeos modernos. La expansión del capital y la competencia entre las potencias occidentales para conquistar mercados, rutas de comercio y asegurarse el control sobre recursos y materias primas fundamentales para las necesidades de la industria moderna promueve contactos entre élites locales del mundo árabe e islámico propugnaban adquirir mayor autonomía del dominio otomano. Esta coincidencia de factores, entre otros, acelera la fragmentación del Imperio y estimula dinámicas de colonización entre sus provincias y el Reino Unido y Francia. Sin embargo, estos contactos no fueron unidireccionales: el mundo árabe e islámico supo tomar elementos culturales, tecnológicos y hasta inspirarse en formas de gobierno y en los modelos de los cuerpos legales europeos para legitimar 1 Publicado originalmente en:

1. Oualagh/Ouallagh = Μήνινξ / Meninx (top., Jerba)
2. Azdyuc / Sedouikech (top., Jerba)
3. Aɣlan (top., Mzab)
4. Tergu (top., Jerba)
5. Amiy Yaṯi / Sidi Yati (Top., Jerba)
6. Tmuyemen (np., Jerba)
7. Taɣlisya (top., Jerba)
8. Taguermes (top., Jerba), Baâtour (n. de famille, Jerba), etc.

A short survey of linguistic contacts between Berber and Arabic in Jerba, taking into account field notes on the Berber language of Guellala and Behnstedt's articles on the Arabic spoken in Jerba. Interestingly, Arab borrowings in Berber belong to an ancient layer of Arabic dialects, showing pre-Hilalian features, while nowadays Arabic displays typical Hilalian features.

This article discusses the significance of the writing and transmission of two accounts recording disputations (munāẓarāt) that took place in 909 CE, the year of the Fatimid revolution, in Qayrawān (modern Tunisia). These debates, in which local scholars of all politico-religious factions participated, were organized by the agents of the Fatimid daʿwa as part of their attempt to establish a Shīʿī caliphate. But the accounts themselves, written at different times and for different motives, were triggered by personal trauma and responded to broader political and religious issues, which helps to explain their inclusion in later narratives of defiance and hagiography. The first was authored by a local Mālikī debater, Saʿīd b. al-Ḥaddād, and immediately went into circulation. It then became part of the North African biographical tradition and was regularly quoted as a brilliant (if paradoxical) defence of Mālikī belief against “heretics and tyrants.” A different account of these disputations was written nearly forty years later by Ibn al-Haytham, a local Fatimid dāʿī. Unlike that of Ibn al- Ḥaddād, Ibn al- Haytham’s memoir, entitled Kitāb al-Munāẓarāt, was written to commemorate an older generation of dāʿīs, especially the revolutionary brothers Abū- l- ʿAbbās and Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shīʿī, both of whom had been executed in 911. Also unlike the previous record, this one circulated privately and only became known to modern scholars in the 1990s. Link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/medieval-sicily-alandalus-and-the-maghrib/writing-of-munazarat-in-times-of-turmoil-disputations-infatimid-ifriqiya/D7ED2BC0D8768FA39E6D0A7B3D34EFA2

This paper explores the effects of civil society’s involvement in the Tunisian democratic transition through a case study on its contributions to the constitution drafting process. Tunisia gained widespread international attention following its popular uprising against authoritarian leader Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and successful transition to democracy. Many, however, have dismissed Tunisia’s triumph as a lucky break aided by the country’s small size, religious and ethnic homogeneity, pre-existing liberal social values, and “relatively moderate” Islamist party. Those focused on such “Tunisian exceptionalism” conclude that the country’s transition has little to teach other countries in political flux.
This research contests that notion, and proposes that Tunisia’s transition has succeeded instead due to the presence of a strong and collaborative civil society, which grew discreetly throughout periods of authoritarianism and has matured in the post-revolution years. This paper specifically analyzes the debate concerning women’s rights in the constitution as an example of state-civil society interaction during the transitional period. The efforts of actors within Tunisia’s vibrant civil society – including activists, non-governmental organizations, unions, and the media – significantly changed the outcomes of political decision making in the transitional period. Examining the processes and outcomes of Tunisia’s transition allows not only for better insight into the vital role of civil society in Tunisian politics and culture, but also offers a new understanding of the potential influence of non-state institutions on the evolution of the state. This case study proposes several lessons that should be used to inform decision making in future projects of peacebuilding and political change in the Middle East and throughout the world.

Λόγω της θέσης της η Κρήτη είχε ανέκαθεν στενές σχέσεις με τον νότιο ελλαδικό χώρο, αλλά συχνά καλές σχέσεις και με περιοχές πέραν αυτού, στα νότια, δυτικά και ανατολικά της. Ήδη κατά τη ρωμαϊκή εποχή η Κρήτη αποτέλεσε μια ενιαία επαρχία μαζί με την Κυρηναϊκή της Λιβύης (Provincia Creta et Cyrenaica), ενώ τον 8ο αιώνα μουσουλμάνοι από την Ανδαλουσία ίδρυσαν στο νησί το Εμιράτο της Κρήτης (Emārāt Iqritiya), το οποίο κατέλυσε το 961 μ.Χ. ο Βυζαντινός αυτοκράτορας Νικηφόρος Φωκάς. Στα νεότερα χρόνια, η Κρήτη αποτέλεσε για δέκα περίπου χρόνια μετά την ελληνική επανάσταση (1830-1840) κτήση της Αιγύπτου, αν και οι ευρωπαϊκές δυνάμεις -ιδίως η Βρετανία- πίεσαν να «επιστραφεί» στον Οθωμανό σουλτάνο, ώστε να την ελέγχουν καλύτερα. Σε κάθε περίπτωση, η ιστορική πορεία της Κρήτης συνδέθηκε αρκετές φορές με αυτή των απέναντι αφρικανικών ακτών, άλλοτε κατά τρόπο αμφίδρομο κι άλλοτε μονομερώς. Σε αυτή την τελευταία κατηγορία εντάσσεται και η ιστορία του Αλί, ενός νεαρού κρητικού που εξισλαμίστηκε και αναζήτησε την τύχη του στην Τυνησία, όπου ο γιος του Χουσεΐν ίδρυσε μια δυναστεία που κυβέρνησε τη χώρα για δυόμιση αιώνες.

Presentation, in a colloquium held in 2004, of an Ibadite poem recently discovered in Djerba. Still preserved in memory and chanted by some elders of Guellala, the text is also recorded in some manuscripts.

This texts displays an interesting interplay between orality and literacy in the Ibadite communities during the last two centuries. In fact, it was composed at the beginning of the 19th century as a tool for religious teaching in a mostly illiterate environment. Nowadays, with the ongoing loss of the Berber language and of the ancestral traditions, the written texts are felt by the Ibadites themselves as the best means to preserve this cultural heritage.

Manich Msema7 is a Tunisian youth-led social movement that resisted an anti-reconciliation bills put forward by the Ennahda-Nidaa Tounes-led government to provide a general amnesty to former regime officials and bureaucrats accused of corruption under the Ben Ali government.

The French protectorate in Tunisia was a crucial historical moment in which the cultural environment was a melting pot where a multitude of ideologies, some internal and others imported, struggled to win the intellectual and political milieu. On the one hand, theories such as salafiyya, Islamic reformism and pan-Arabism enter with force from territories with an Islamic majority. On the other hand, many leftist ideologies such as Marxism, anarchism or socialism arrive from Europe, alonside the European settlers and workers. In this article we will analyze the intellectual and political environment of Tunisia during the first half of the French protectorate, paying special attention to these two groups of ideologies.

At the end of the 19th Century, the direct method was developed and institutionalized for Torne Valley. Despite criticism from both pedagogical and political standpoints, the use French protectorate Tunisia, and reindeer herding Sami children in Lapland, in which direct method instruction was denied, and alleged cultural characteristics, such as Coran At the time, universal suffrage and parlamentarism were established in Sweden and France. Universal suffrage invokes an imagined community of individuals, the demos, constituted as equal despite their differing qualities. At the same time, the demos is always limited, and its limits are articulated in terms of similarity and difference, i. e. in terms of qualities. Every attempt to institute the demos therefore poses the question of how similar the equals have to be. The main argument of the thesis is that the direct method offered an answer to this question, turning the pedagogical issues into a magnifying glass for these groups into ...

This paper deals with some interesting cases of suppletion taking place in some Eastern Berber varieties (from Tunisia, Libya and Egypt), and focuses on the verb "say", which displays complex paradigms in these regions. Usually different roots are used in different tenses, but the change of root depends also on the presence/absence of affixes (Siwa, Egypt). The examination of these alternations leads to some inferences in the history of Berber languages.

Presentation of a recently discovered religious poem composed in Jerba at the beginning of the 19th century. Interesting interplay between oral and written expressions of the Berber language in the last two centuries in Jerba. ... Brugnatelli, V. (2008). Littérature religieuse à Jerba. ...

Kring sekelskiftet 1900 lanserades i Sverige och Frankrike en ny pedagogisk metod för att lära ut nationalspråket på platser där andra språk dominerade. Från den allra första skoldagen skulle undervisningen uteslutande ske på svenska respektive franska. På ett slående sätt blev metoden obligatorisk i skolundervisningen av vissa grupper medan den ansågs direkt olämplig för andra. Detta är en undersökning av diskussionerna om metoden på fyra platser: i Bretagne, Tunisien, Tornedalen och Lappmarken. Frågan om vilket språk läraren skulle prata i klassrummet visar sig vara tätt sammanflätad med tidens stora frågor om allmän rösträtt, vilka som ska ingå i den demokratiska gemenskapen och hur lika de jämlika egentligen måste vara.

Depuis l'Indépendance nationale en 1956, l'historiographie tunisienne est dominée par l'écriture d'une histoire nationale qui infère sur la manière d'expliquer l'origine des concerts de chants confrériques dans les festivals et les fêtes domestiques. Dans la petite ville de Beni Khiar où cette enquête a été réalisée, les exécutants de ces concerts se réfèrent implicitement à cette histoire nationale, évoquant la « culturalisation » et la « folklorisation » des chants soufis, deux processus enclenchés par la politique anticonfrérique du président Bourguiba dans les années 1960. Mais à côté de ces processus, ils évoquent également une histoire plus locale de l'exécution de ces chants dans les fêtes domestiques dont la genèse s'ancre dans l'histoire des rivalités entres les confréries religieuses du premier quart du XXe siècle. Cette double référence à l'histoire nationale et locale permet d'affiner l'examen des évolutions des chants religieux en-dehors du domaine confrérique et mystique.

Since national independence in 1956, Tunisian historiography has been dominated by the writing of national history, which influences how concerts of Sufi songs in festivals and family celebrations are explained. In the little town of Beni Khiar where this survey was undertaken, performers implicitly refer to this national history, notably to the culturalisation and “folklorisation” of these performances due to the anti-Sufi politics of President Bourguiba in the 1960s. In addition, however, they also refer to the local history of these songs, which goes back to family celebrations that played on the historical rivalries between Sufi brotherhoods in the early twentieth century. This double reference to national and local history raises new questions for research into the evolution of religious song outside the mystic context that generally characterizes Sufi brotherhoods.

Le phénomène religieux 'islamisme, intégrisme ...'  En Tunisie le modernisme avancé de Bourguiba. L'Association pour la Sauvegarde du Coran.  Tolérance réduite et coexistence.  Le Mouvement de la Tendance Islamique avec l'émir R. Ghannouchi. Refus des éléments occidentaux. La répression de 1981. Dissidences et pluralisme islamique. Le danger islamiste et le coup d'état de Ben Ali le 07.11.1987. L'Ere nouvelle e le développement économique. Le parti An-Nahada face à un régime autoritaire. Une répression subtile. Accueil chez les frères algériens et au Soudan chez al-Tourabi.  Répondre à la montée des intégristes et à la crise d'identité du Maghreb. L'islamisme intégriste est une composante de l'Islam contemporain et source d'une théorie politique musulmane.