The #MECAM series features contributions to the overarching theme of the Merian Centre for Advanced Study in the Maghreb (MECAM), “Imagining Futures: Dealing with Disparity”. The complex social processes that characterise the Maghreb and the adjacent regions historically and at the present time are addressed in five thematic clusters: “Inequality & Mobility”, “Memory & Justice”, “Aesthetics & Cultural Practice”, “Resources & Sustainability”, and “Identities & Beliefs”. Each of these themes is discussed and analysed in the work of the Interdisciplinary Fellow Groups (IFGs) hosted by MECAM and by scholars from the universities and institutes that constitute the consortium that supports MECAM. The themes of the IFGs are the different threads of the #MECAM series.
MECAM is a joint endeavour of seven German and Tunisian Universities and research institutions: The University of Marburg, the University of Tunis, Leipzig University, the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg and the Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien, the University of Sfax, and the Institut Tunisien des Études Stratégiques (ITES). MECAM is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), supported and hosted by the University of Tunis.
Series editors: Julius Dihstelhoff (MECAM), Jessica Metz, Claudia Pfitzner (both Forum Transregionale Studien).
#MECAM #Aesthetics&CulturalPractice
This thread seeks to consider the profound influence that societal changes have exerted on aesthetics and cultural practices (and vice-versa). It aims at addressing and redressing how aesthetic representations of disparity and entanglement are narrated, visualised, and performed in order to present the futures on offer to their respective societies. The essays are the result of the collaborative work of the Interdisciplinary Fellow Group “Aesthetics & Cultural Practice”.
Thread editors: Rasha Chatta (Freie Universität Berlin), Sahar El Echi (École Superieure de l’Audiovisuel et du Cinema, Tunis), Farouk El Maarouf (Universität Gießen), Katarzyna Falęcka (Newcastle University), Teresa Pepe (Universitetet i Oslo), Angela Rabing (Universität Bremen), Felix Lang (coordination, Universität Marburg)
#MECAM #Inequality&Mobility
#Inequality&Mobility examines the complex relationships between rising inequalities and diverse types of mobility in present-day Tunisia and the Maghreb, based on the collaborative work of an interdisciplinary group of early career researchers in the social sciences. The contributions are a product of the International Fellow Group “Inequality & Mobility” at MECAM. It consists of short reflections and impressions from diverse field sites, interviews with Tunisian researchers and activists involved in conversations and projects with the group, as well as longer essays by the fellows and invited contributors. Reflecting the multilingualism of its contributors, the texts are written in English, French, and Arabic.
Thread editors: Myriam Amri (Harvard University), André Weißenfels (Freie Universität Berlin), Moslem Nasser (Université de Tunis), Souhir Bouzid (ISTEUB Tunis), Wael Garnaoui (Université de Sousse/Université de Paris), Johannes Frische (Universität Leipzig), Ann-Christin Zuntz (University of Edinburgh), Katharina Grüneisl (coordination, Universität Leipzig)
#MECAM #Identities&Beliefs
The contributions to the #Identities&Beliefs thread reflect the ways in which identity-based and belief-related disparities shape the (re-)negotiation of imaginaries, visions, and models of the future. We ask: which identity-based disparities and diverse beliefs are available and dominant in specific contexts? What are their similarities and differences across different social and political settings? How have the disparities around identities and beliefs evolved in recent history and up until the present, and which visions for the future emanate from them? In addressing these guiding questions, we draw on an open understanding of the concept of ‘identities’, encompassing aspects of ideology, ethnicity, and religion. The essays emerge from the collaborative work of the Interdisciplinary Fellows Group on “Identities and Beliefs” at MECAM.
Thread Editors: André Bank (German Institute for Global and Area Studies), Elizabeth Bishop (Texas State University), Guy Eyre (King’s College London), Shreya Parikh (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill / Sciences Po), Arbia Selmi (Centre Marc Bloch), and Alyssa Miller (Coordination, German Institute for Global and Area Studies).