Digital resources in the Social Sciences and Humanities OpenEdition Our platforms OpenEdition Books OpenEdition Journals Hypotheses Calenda Libraries OpenEdition Freemium Follow us

Tagged: Maghreb

Issues / MECAM

Mapping Liquid Boundaries: Africa, Europe, and the Limits of Mediterranean Geopolitics

By Daniel Tödt. European policy often describes North Africa and the Maghreb as Europe’s Southern Neighbourhood, as Mediterranean partners, or as security, energy and mobility corridors. These descriptions reflect real forms of cooperation and political interest, but they also create a particular field of vision. Within such framings, the region’s place within Africa can become less visible: centuries of Saharan mobility, Black North African histories, long-standing intra-African connections, and contemporary African lives in cities such as Casablanca, Tripoli, Tunis or Algiers.

A calm sea at daytime. One ship is in the foreground while another is further in the distance.

Issues / MECAM

German-Maghreb-Relations amid the New Pact for the Mediterranean: Discussing the future of Mediterranean relations at the MECAM Policy Talk 2026

By Julius Dihstelhoff & Clara-Auguste Süß. The Mediterranean has become a key arena for addressing some of the most pressing policy challenges facing Europe and its southern neighbours. Energy security and the green transition, migration governance, regional stability, and security cooperation all converge in the region, making the future of EU-Maghreb relations strategically important for Germany as well. In this piece, the wider issues in response to the New Pact are explored from the MECAM Policy Talk 2026.

Conversations / MECAM

Reclaiming Movement: Hayet Amamou on the Maghreb’s Mobile Past and Future

Hayet Amamou in Conversation with Julius Dihstelhoff. Prof. Amamou argues that precolonial patterns of mobility—not rigid territoriality—forged the Maghreb’s identity. Her work challenges modern narratives of exclusion, insisting that historical connectivity, not isolation, holds the key to reimagining the region’s future. Amamou’s work aligns with MECAM’s mission to “imagine futures” by confronting historical erasures. Her keynote underscored that the Maghreb’s precolonial mobility was “a negotiated order, not chaos”—one that offers alternatives to today’s exclusionary policies.

Issues / MECAM

Female Agency and Colonial Repression: Memory and Archives in Tunisia

By Nora Lafi. Reflecting on the role of women under colonialism crucially contributes to debates on how
to write the history thereof in contemporary Tunisia. Based on a corpus of original archives relating to French repression of women designated “rebels,” it is shown how a focus on women’s agency makes it possible to write the history of colonisation differently and to cast issues of memory in a new light.

5in10 / Imagining Futures – Dealing with Disparity / MECAM

Regional disparities and inclusive territorial development in Tunisia: The South-East region– 5in10 with Nessrine Abbassi

By Nessrine Abbasi. Tunisia faces the pressing challenge of building a democratic system that addresses deep-rooted social and economic inequalities. Nessrine Abbassi, an expert in regional development economics, sheds light on the disparities between the coastal regions and the country’s south, particularly the Southeast. This region grapples with marginalization, unemployment, and poverty—issues exacerbated by inadequate development strategies. Abbassi emphasizes that sustainable development is achievable only through territorial approaches that consider the unique needs and characteristics of each region.

5in10 / Imagining Futures – Dealing with Disparity / MECAM

Crises and Transnational Migration in Tunisia (2011-2024): Discourses and Practices of Hospitality and Rejection of Immigrants – 5in10 with Riadh Ben Khalifa

Riadh Ben Khalifa Riadh Ben Khalifa is an associate Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Tunis. His research interests focus on migration, asylum, and mobility in transitional contexts. Over the past decade, he published several books and articles in refereed journals as well as contributed to numerous chapters in collective works. He also made contributions to reports on migration and refugee issues for international organizations.

Issues / MECAM

State–Society Relations and Sustainable Growth in Tunisia Post-2011  

By Mohamed Ismail Sabry. In the post-2011 Revolution years, ideological polarisation and political instability weakened the Tunisian state, freeing much space for business tycoons to largely dominate the political realm. Such “state capture” had a deep impact on the enactment and/or implementation of various policies that would significantly affect inclusive and sustainable growth. After 2011, tycoons benefitted from the lax and discretionary implementation of policies.

Issues / MECAM

Reimagining the Maghreb: Navigating an Autonomous Region in Motion

By Julius Dihstelhoff, Rachid Ouaissa, and Thomas Richter. The Maghreb has been shaped and influenced by external powers and forces throughout most phases of its recent history. As a vibrant space in motion, this world region is only at the beginning of a long process of carving out its own future autonomous role. Historically, the Maghreb has faced internal tensions due to acute disparities and complex external interlinkages with surrounding regions. These tensions are crucial for understanding contemporary transformation processes and future dynamics.

#MECAM / MECAM / Reviews

Hysteria: Unveiling Tunisian Women’s Journey in Writing Chick-Lit

In this article, Cyrine Kortas reviews the Tunisian writer Faten Fazaa’s book “Hysteria”. Written in Tunisian dialect and focusing on the everyday struggles of an ordinary woman from the old Medina, the book is labeled as Tunisian chick lit, a new literary genre that has flourished. Offering a glimpse into the lives of Tunisian young women, she addresses social and political issues while questioning cultural norms. By means of this novel Cyrine Kortas examines the topic of female gender identity negotiation in a Muslim society on the eve of the Arab Spring era.

5in10 / Imagining Futures – Dealing with Disparity / MECAM

The End Zones of the Circular Economy: Capitalism and Waste in North Africa – 5in10 with Joshua Rigg

Joshua Rigg holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. His research interests include socio-political transformations in the Middle East and North Africa, the politics of extractivism, everyday political thinking, and the afterlives of colonial and post-colonial North Africa. He has previously written on everyday understandings of justice in post-overthrow Tunisia, extractivism and marginalization in Tunisia’s south, and the circulation of revolutionary political thinking in the Mediterranean space.