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Category: MECAM

The Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM) was established at the Université de Tunis/Tunisia to strengthen international, intergenerational and interdisciplinary scholarly exchange between Germany and the Maghreb, the Mediterranean and the wider MENA region and beyond. The overall theme “Imagining Futures: Dealing with Disparity” guides MECAM’s research agenda on questions of Aesthetics & Cultural Practice, Inequality & Mobility, Memory & Justice, Resources & Sustainability, and Identities & Beliefs. These constitute the core issues of MECAM’s five Interdisciplinary Research Fields.
MECAM was founded in April 2020 as an international centre for interdisciplinary research and academic exchange. It is located in Tunis/Tunisia with two secondary (network) sites in Casablanca/Morocco and Beirut/Lebanon. MECAM is a joint endeavour of a consortium of six Tunisian and German research institutions. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and hosted by the Université de Tunis.
MECAM’s guiding theme “Imagining Futures: Dealing with Disparity” addresses the complex processes of the renegotiation of societal experiences into ideas for the future (“imagining futures”) in the context of different forms and scales of disparity and unequal conditions (“dealing with disparity”). The centre explores the link between multidimensional disparities and the possibilities of building and negotiating future-oriented ideas and models. It invites scholars at different stages of their career. Fellows work within the framework of the five interdisciplinary research fields. Furthermore, MECAM organizes various events, such as seminars, lectures, public debates and transregional/traveling academies and workshops that connect researchers and discuss research outcomes. MECAM is directed by Rachid Ouaissa (Philipps-Universität Marburg) and Khaled Kchir (Université de Tunis)
Editors: Diana Abbani and Rashof Salih

MECAM Series:
#Aesthetics & Cultural Practices
#Inequality & Mobility
#Identities & Beliefs
#MECAM #Memory & Justice
#MECAM #Resources & Sustainability

Between Trade-Based Food Security and Self-Sufficiency: Agricultural Policies and Sectors in Tunisia

By Emile van Ommeren. Around the globe, countries are rethinking their food policy strategies in response to the increasingly uncertain geopolitical situation and climate change. Many countries have expressed their interests in improving their levels of food self-sufficiency– i.e., the extent to which a country can satisfy its food needs from its own domestic production. Rather than taking a state-level perspective, my goal is to understand the role and position of Tunisian farmers in the current debate about food and trade policy. Is there broad support among farmers for a shift towards policies that prioritize local agricultural production? Or are producers in Tunisia divided over the question of how higher levels of food security can be attained?

Portrait of a person with short hair and glasses.

Machtat of Kerkenah: An Empowering Motherly Continuum and Cultural Heritage – 5in10 with Souhir Zekri

Souhir Zekri holds a PhD in English Studies from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, Scotland) and currently teaches at the Higher Institute of Digital Engineering of Tunis (University of Tunis). Her main research areas include life writing theory, motherhood and gender studies, the Italian Diaspora in Scotland, and spatial theory. She also writes short stories and first-person testimonies in relation to gender and harassment. In the academic year 2025–26, Souhir is a MECAM Fellow, working on her project on traditional women singers in Tunisia.

Large fields of solar panels in the Moroccan desert.

Bridging the Mediterranean: Collaborative Pathways or Power Struggles in Renewable Energy?

By Mustapha Majidi. Over the past two decades, several renewable energy strategies and initiatives have been launched in Europe, many of which focus on exploiting and importing the renewable energy potential of the South. This study critically examines the main disadvantages of renewable energy project partnerships in the region, focusing on Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, which represent key actors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with ambitious and dynamic energy goals. It then analyses the structural imbalances in partnerships, arguing that cooperation in this sector remains largely tilted in favour of the North.

The Sahara desert beneath a blue sky.

A Reverse Shot of Migratory Narratives in Matteo Garrone’s “Io Capitano” (2022)

By Said Chemlal. In his film Io Capitano (I’m the Captain, 2022), Matteo Garrone inverts popular narratives about illegal immigration from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe, both Maghrebi and European. Unlike the common narratives, he brings to the fore the perspective of ‘illegal’ immigrants as individual subjectivities, who become active participants in the film themselves, rather than mere objects of the camera. The protagonists participate in weaving the narrative and, more importantly, (re)narrating their traumatic lived experiences; hence, they are given a voice to tell their stories.

A road in the Saharan desert, a flat building on the right side.

Sahel–North Africa Relations: Addressing Common Threats in a Fragmented Cooperation Landscape

By Ornella Moderan. Shared histories, geographic contiguity, and transnational challenges have long made the Maghreb and the Sahel deeply interdependent. This blog post offers reflections on the complex web of relationships between the Maghreb and the Sahel, focusing in particular on evolving regional security dynamics, the divergent postures of Algeria and Morocco, and the opportunities and risks inherent in current cooperation patterns. Drawing on developments since 2020, it highlights the urgent need for more grounded, politically viable, and locally owned approaches to regional security governance.

Illustration of workers protesting in front of a ship.

Solidarity against Empire in a Colonial Port City

By Rim Naguib. In January 1907, days of demonstrations swept through the streets and port of Alexandria and spread to Cairo. They had been provoked by the arrest of three migrant trade unionists from Odessa on accusations of intended sabotage on a Russian ship. Through this little-known event, much is revealed of the nature of colonial governance and the rule of difference. The event sheds light on the possibilities of a movement of anti-authoritarianism and solidarity that cuts across race, communal affiliations and social class, despite the colonial setting that fostered racial hierarchies and communalism, and where internationalist ideas and mobilisations were highly policed.

Colourfull streetart.

“Is there a Moroccan Thought?”

By Idriss Jebari. The question “Is there a Moroccan Thought?” drives the recent volume Contemporary Moroccan Thought by Mohamed Hashas (University of Rome Tor Vergata), published earlier this year by Brill. This review focusses on Hashas’s introductory essay titled “Rabat School of Thought: Tradition, Modernity, and Critique from the Edge.” At over 120 pages, it could represent a book in its own right. It contains the editor’s original and provocative answer to the above-mentioned question. In the following six points, I explore how it might be received by its different publics, and suggest the volume’s possible aftermaths.

Map showing the connection between different cities of the Mediterranean through telegraphs.

(De)colonizing the French Mediterranean: Connections and Power Relations

Clara-Auguste Süß in Conversation with Manuel Borutta. This conversation explores the historical interconnections, dependencies, and violence linking the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean and how those have shaped social, political, and economic structures on both sides. It touches on the history of Mediterranean studies, struggles of decolonization today, and the role of scholars in the progress. Lastly, it looks at “the Mediterranean” as an analytical category and its limitations.

Sign reading "Projet de sauvegarde et de valorisation de la baie de cocody".

Southward Bound: Maghrebi Entrepreneurs and the Making of Real Intra-African Trade Corridors

By Youssef Cherif. In recent years, a new migratory dynamic has emerged in Africa: the movement of Maghrebi entrepreneurs toward sub-Saharan Africa. This is a development that remains largely underexplored, despite its growing significance. While most public and scholarly attention has focused on the northbound migration of West Africans or the outward mobility of North Africans toward Europe, the southward shift of North African entrepreneurs—particularly from Tunisia and Morocco—offers a window into how regional economic integration is already happening, from below.

A statue in front of a building.

Precolonial Memory, Postcolonial Critique: Ibn Khaldun in Tunisian Arabic Fiction of the 21st Century

By Hanan Natour. As part of this publication series on the decolonial Mediterranean, focusing on Tunisian literature serves as a gateway to creative engagements with the country’s significant geography. Tunisian literature links to the region in several directions — it is part of North African literature and modern Arabic literature. Grounded in the violent experience of colonialism, it also finds multiple ways of engaging with French literature from the other end of the Mediterranean Sea.