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Recent Tunisian Historical Writing on State and Society in Modern Tunisia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

F. Robert Hunter
F. Robert Hunter*
Affiliation:
Tulane University
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Extract

One problem faced by many Western historians of the Middle East and North Africa is a relative ignorance of what is being produced by the local scholars themselves. In the case of the Maghreb, for example, without regular visits to the area, an American researcher may have to wait several years to learn about the publication of a new book or a local research project relevant to his own interests. This observation is certainly true for Tunisia, where a small, active group of historians at the University of Tunis has been examining aspects of Tunisia's political and social evolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but whose works, with few exceptions, are not well known to scholars in America.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of Middle East Studies , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , July 1986 , pp. 23 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Middle East Studies Association of North America, Inc. 1986

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Footnotes

*This article was written on the basis of interviews conducted with Tunisian historians and research carried out in Tunis during both the 1983-1984 academic year, when I held a Fulbright Fellowship, and the month of December, 1985, when I returned to Tunis on a grant from the American Institute of Maghreb Studies.

References

1Abdeljelil, Temimi ('Abd al-Jalīl al-Tamīmī), al-Mas'ala al-Tūmisīya wa'l-siyāsa al-'uth-mānīya, 1881-1918 (Dār al-Kutub al-Sharqīya, Tunis 1973).Google Scholar Professor Béchir Tlili is the author of two works on nineteenth century Tunisia: Les rapports cuiturels et idéohgiques entre l'Orient et l'Occident, en Tunisie, au XIXe siécle, 1830-1880 (University of Tunis, Tunis 1974);Google Scholar and Etudes d'histotre sociaie turasienne du XIXe siécle (University of Tunis, Tunis 1974).Google ScholarAhmed, Abdesselem, Les hxstoriens tumsiens des XVIIe, XVIIIe et XIXe siéctes. Essai d'histoire cutturelle (Klincksieck, Librarie C., Paris 1973).Google ScholarAli, Chenoufi, Un Savant tunisien du XIXe siècle: Muhammad As Sanusi; sa vie et son oeuvre (University of Tunis, Tunis 1977).Google Scholar

2 A student of Charles-André Julien and Jean Ganiage, Professor Cherif holds the position of Maître de conference at the University of Tunis. The opinions stated here were expressed by Professor Cherif in a discussion we had in December 1985, but can also be found in his many publications. To Western scholars, ProfessorCherif, is perhaps best known for his important article, “Expansion europeenne et difficultés tunisiennes de 1815 à 1830,” Annates économies sociétés civilisations 25 (1970) 714–744.Google Scholar I wish to thank Professor Cherif for his constant willingness to meet with me and his patience in answering my many questions.

3 For the taking root of the Husaynid dynasty in society, see “Le Déturquisation de pouvoir en Tunisie: classes dirigeantes et société tunisienne de la fin du XIVe siècle à 1881,” Les Cahiers de Tunisie 29 (1981) 177–197.Google ScholarProfessorCherif, has written the chapters on the Maghreb in Introduction à l'Afrique du Nord conternporaine (C.N.R.S., Paris 1978)Google Scholar and Peuples et les civilisations du Proche-Orient, vol. 11, part 2 (Mouton, s'Gravenhage 1977).Google ScholarHe is the author of “Sources de l'histoire economique et sociale de la Tunisie au XVIIIe siècle,” in Les Arabes par lews archives (CNRS, Paris 1976)Google Scholar; he has contributed three chapters on national movements in the Maghreb in De I'impérioiisme à la décolonisation, v. 2, eds. Corell, , Cherif, , and Khalfallah, (University of Tunis, Tunis 1966)Google Scholar; and has written articles on the modern history of Tunisia that have appeared in Les Cahiers de Tunisie, Cahiers de la Méditerranée (Nice), Revue de l'Occident Musulman et de la Méditerranée (Aix-en-Provence) and Annales économies sociétés civilisations. He is also the author of Tunis, Ta'rikh (CERES publications, Tunis 1980).Google Scholar

4 Professor Limam's study was published in 1980 by the University of Tunis Press. A graduate of the American University of Beirut, Professor Limam is the author of many articles and several books that deal not only with Tunisia but also with other parts of the Middle East. He has, for example, written Madinat cd-Quds fiī'l-'asr al-wasīt, 1253-1516 (al-Dār al-Tūnisīya lil-nashr, Tunis 1976). His other work on modern Tunisia is Svrat Mustafā bin Isma'ū(Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Tunis 1981).

5Cherif, , “Le Deturquisation de pouvoir en Tunisie,” p. 183.Google Scholar

6 This work was published in 1984 in Tunis by the University of Tunis Press. Maître de conference of modern history at the University of Tunis, Khelifa Chater received his Doctorat d'Etat from the Sorbonne, where he was a student of Jean, Ganiage. In addition to an earlier book, La Mehalla de Zarrouk au Sahel, 1864 (University of Tunis Press, Tunis 1978)Google Scholar, Professor Chater has written numerous articles, the most important of which are: “Eléments pour une approche de certains phenomènes de ‘açabiya’ dans la Tunisie du XIXe siecle (Sahel et basse steppes),” Les Cahiers de Tunisie 25 (1977) 61-73; “La ville tunisienne au XIXe siècle. Thèorie et réalités,” Les Cahiers de Tunisie 26 (1978) 85–108Google Scholar; “Le constitutionnalisme en Tunisie au 19e siècle,” Revue tunisienne de sciences sociales, April 1975, 243-272; “Le fait ottoman en Tunisie: mythe et réalité,” Revue d'histoire maghrébine, December 1983, 141-148.

7 The reign of Ahmad Bey is the subject of part 3, pages 483-585.

8 On the way in which state control was finally imposed upon al-Jand, see Henīa, pp. 212-222.

9 This idea was expressed by Mohamed Cherif and is touched upon in his article on peasant rebellions cited below.

10 In Réactions a l'occupation française de la Tunisie en 1881: Actes du ler Séminaire d'Histoire du Mouvement National, Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scien- tifique and Centre National Universitaire de Documentation Scientifique et Technique, 145-156 (Imprimérie Officielle de la République Tunisienne, Tunis 1983).

11 See my own article, “Capital Accumulation and Provincial Power in Pre-Protector ate Tunisia (1850-1881): Notes from the Tunis Archives,” to appear in Middle Eastern Studies 23 (1987).

12Revue de l'occident musubnan et de la Méditerranée (Aix-en-Provence) 30:2 (1980) 21-55.

13 This work, of 193 pages, is a collaborative effort by a sociologist and a historian. The authors have used Tunisian archival and other original source materials to produce a well-written and interesting account of the insurrection. This book also contains a large number of pictorial representations (drawings, photographs, etc.) that vividly illustrate the events of 1881.