The Fall 2024 Mediterranean Seminar Workshop
Wednesday to Friday, 6 to 8 November 2024
The Tunisia Office of the
Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University

“Before the Nation - Diversity and Identity
in Pre-Modern Tunisia/Ifriqiya and North Africa
(12th - 18th Centuries)”

Situated at the center of the vast Mediterranean Basin, Tunisia has been for centuries a crossroads for various races, empires, religions, languages and cultures. Characterized by topographical and environmental diversity, Tunisia boasts hundreds of miles of coastline to its north and east, vast stretches of desert, forests, and an abundance of fertile farmland. It has been home to nomadic herders, farmers, urban dwellers and craftsmen, merchants, soldiers and corsairs, artists, scholars and religious figures.

 This workshop considers ethno-cultural diversity in Tunisia/Ifriqiya (as well as across North Africa) and how identities interacted, mutated, coalesced and disappeared throughout the ages. It aims to provide a platform for Tunisian/north African graduate students and junior scholars to get feedback on their work and create networks with North American and European scholars.

 Against the conventional narrative of a dominant Arab and Berber population, with a significant Jewish minority with ancient roots in the region, we seek to investigate the role of other ethnic, cultural; and confessional communities, i.e.,  Andalusi/ Morisco, Ottoman (Turkish & Greek), Spanish, Italians, French, and sub-Saharan Africans etc who have integrated into the Tunisian demographic, cultural, political and economic fabric over the centuries

Program & Papers

All papers [click on the title to download] are copyright the author and are not to be copied, distributed or cited without express written permission by same.
Click on the participant name to see their bio.

All sessions will be held at
The Harvard CMES Tunisia Office
3rd Floor, Immeuble Slim, de l'Euro,
Les Berges du Lac II Walkway, Tunis, Tunisia

Wednesday 6 November

5:30—7:30    Keynote
“Ethno-religious Diversity in the Age of Convergence: A Structural Approach”
• Brian A. Catlos (University of Colorado Boulder)
• Moderator: William Granara (Harvard University)

8:30—10:30 Dinner (Presenters only)
• Au Bon vieux Temps • 56 Rue Hedi Zarrouk, Sidi Bou Said

Thursday 7 November

9:00—11:30 Visit The Bardo National Museum

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch (Harvard CMES Tunisia Office)

1:30—2:00 Opening Remarks
Brian A. Catlos (University of Colorado Boulder)
Sharon Kinoshita (University of California Santa Cruz)
William Granara (Harvard University)

2:00 – 5:15 Working Session 1 – Integration
Moderator: Sharon Kinoshita (University of California Santa Cruz)
”At what point do Moriscos in Tunis become North African?”
• Susan Shoshan Abraham (University of Virginia)
”Alarabes and Spaniards: Alliances, tribal Identities and imperial Projects in Hafsid Tunis”
• Rubén González Cuerva (CSIC)
”Between Mali and Mallorca: Ibn Khaldūn, Tunis, and the movement of goods and ideas in the Mediterranean World (14th-15th centuries)”
• Andrew Devereux (UC San Diego)
”Maritime Violence and Cross-Confessional Networks in Ottoman Tunis, 1600-1700”
• Eda Özel (Harvard)

5:30—7:30    Keynote
“Poetry of North African Ottoman Soldiers”
• Cemal Kafadar (Harvard University)
Moderator:  Sharon Kinoshita (University of California Santa Cruz)

8:30—10:30 Dinner (Presenters only)
•  La Goulette • 53 Av. Habib Bourghuiba, La Goulette

Friday 8 November

9:00—11:30 Tour of the Tunis Medina

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch (Harvard CMES Tunisia Office)

 2:00 – 5:15 Working Session 2 – Migration
Moderator: Brian A. Catlos (University of Colorado Boulder)
”Anselm Turmeda/Abdullah al-Tarjuman: A Mallorcan Convert’s Trans-Mediterranean Engagements, A Case Study”
• John Dagenais  (UCLA)
”From Prosperity to Peril: A Comparative Glimpse of Tunis Through the Eyes of Fourteenth Century Traveller al-Balawī and Sixteenth-Century Traveller al-Tamagrūtī”
• Ayse Kara (Istanbul Medeniyet University)
”A Trans-Maghrib Society(s) in the Eighteenth Century?”
• Peter Kitlas (American University of Beirut)
”Tunisia and the wider Maghrib in the early modern material exchange across both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean”
• Ana Struillou (Institute of Historical Research)

5:30—7:30    Keynote
“From Andalusians to Moriscos: Building a Powerful Cultural Community in Medieval and Early Modern Tunisia”
• Houssem Eddine Chachia (University of Tunis).
Moderator:  Brian A. Catlos (University of Colorado Boulder)

8:30—10:30 Dinner (Presenters only)
•  Le Golfe • 5 Rue Larbi Zarrouk, Tunis

Staff and Administration
• Sihem Lamine (Harvard CMES Tunisia Office)

Practica

Accommodation:
Conference presenters will be lodged at the Hotel Sidi Bou Said, La Marsa

Sponsors, Organization & Support:
 This workshop is organized by Brian A. Catlos (University of Colorado Boulder), Houssem Eddine Chachia (University of Tunis), William Granara (Harvard University), and Sharon Kinoshita (University of California Santa Cruz). It is sponsored by =the Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies Harvard University, with the support of the Mediterranean Seminar and the CU Mediterranean Studies Group.