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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

Four people sit on a panel and stage, facing the audience, deep in discussion.

Conversations / MECAM

Multilinguality in Academic Research and Publishing

Scholars working with and on the world regions in the Global South face a dilemma of doing fieldwork and researching in local languages and then publishing results in international outlets dominated by the English language. In this conversation based on the roundtable, we reflect on this tension navigating the requirements of academic publishing and career-related issues, and regional and local academic traditions in Southeast and West Asia as well as the African continent.

Two small boats on a lake.

A Decolonial Mediterranean – Disparities, Imaginations, Power Relations / MECAM

Representing ‘Sub-Saharan’ Boat Migrants: Global and Tunisian Media Narratives of the Mediterranean Migration ‘Crisis’

By Imene Gannouni Khemiri. The escalating ‘irregular’ migration across the Mediterranean Sea has become a major topic of international interest. While it is not a new phenomenon, the number of ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants, along with the associated death toll, has recently reached unprecedented levels. Against this backdrop, the present study explores how the tragic deaths of ‘sub-Saharan’ migrants crossing the Mediterranean are represented in media discourse.

Tall palm trees behind dense green reeds under a partly cloudy sky.

MECAM / Reviews

Mysticism and the City: Temporality, Spatiality, Culture, and Society

By Miriam Hanses. Mysticism and Sufism are often portrayed as historical and spiritual traditions detached from present-day realities. The MECAM Traveling Academy “Mysticism and the City: Temporality, Spatiality, Culture, and Society”, held in Gabès, challenged this perspective by addressing present-day dynamics.The question of how mystical traditions continue to shape urban life in the Maghreb and beyond today, particularly in contexts marked by crisis, marginalization, and heritage politics, was at the heart of the Academy.

A group of people in front of a bridge built out of stone.

Conversations / MECAM

Dancing Across Time and Space: Mysticism, the City, and the Body in Tunisia

Souad Matoussi in conversation with Julius Dihstelhoff. Mystical dances in Tunisia are not relics of a distant past. They are living practices that continue to shape urban life today. Moving from sacred zawiyas to private homes and public stages, they connect bodies, memories, and the city across time. This interview with Souad Matoussi shows how these practices function as cultural resources, sites of negotiation, and forms of collective imagination. Mysticism is not outside modern urban life. It is one of the ways cities are continuously produced and reimagined.

A woman with dark hair in a purple sweater.

Imagining Futures – Dealing with Disparity / MECAM

The Politics of Migration: Framing Sub-Saharan Migrants in Tunisian Online Media – 5in10 with Imene Gannouni Khemiri

Imene Gannouni khemiri is a short-term Fellow at Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM) for the 2025 cohort and an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the Faculty of Letters, Arts and Humanities, University of Manouba, Tunisia. She holds a Master’s degree and a PhD in cultural studies from the University of Manouba with her doctoral research focusing on the representation of Tunis in British travel writing (1815–1910). Her research interests include travel writing, migration studies, media studies, and visual culture.

The interior of a multi-storey building with stone walls and wooden balconys looking out on the courtyard.

A Decolonial Mediterranean – Disparities, Imaginations, Power Relations / MECAM

Framing religious tolerance for public diplomacy – the monarchy’s instrumentalisation of Morocco’s Jewish community

By Andreas Wüst. The exodus of thousands of Jewish families from Morocco and the lamentable situation of Jewish heritage in the country, the result of years of omission and disinterest, are now followed by a strategy to preserve and renovate Jewish memory. André Azoulay, the king’s advisor and himself a Moroccan Jew, promotes the kingdom’s narrative about a diverse, tolerant and moderate society. While the public promotion of Jewish heritage before 2016 was part of a general strategy to improve Morocco’s image on the international level, it has now become pivotal to Moroccan foreign policy concerning the territory of Western Sahara.

A Decolonial Mediterranean – Disparities, Imaginations, Power Relations / MECAM

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.

5in10 / Imagining Futures – Dealing with Disparity / MECAM

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.

A Decolonial Mediterranean – Disparities, Imaginations, Power Relations / MECAM

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 Decolonial Mediterranean – Disparities, Imaginations, Power Relations / MECAM

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.