MECAM at the Deutscher Orientalistentag 2022 in Berlin

On Thursday, September 16, MECAM IFG V alumni fellows gathered in Berlin, funded by own funds of the MECAM partner institution German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), to participate in the centennial meeting of the “Deutscher Orientalistentag” (https://dot2022.de/). The event was a fantastic occasion for the fellows to reunite three months after the in-person fellowship wrapped up in Tunis and offered an opportunity for them to disseminate the results of their research. The MECAM papers were organized into a double panel on “Identities and Beliefs,” and divided into two sub-themes on “Muslim Identities and the Politics of Solidarity,” and “Imaginaries of the Other.” The panel was well-attended, and audience members contributed excellent questions and critical feedback for the panelists. In addition to presenting their research, the fellows benefited from attending the many other Tunisia and Maghreb-focused panels organized for the DOT-DAVO conference, as well as the chance to network with other scholars in the field and enjoy the many attractions offered by the world-class city of Berlin.

Panel Composition and Participation

Panel One: “Identities and Beliefs in the Maghreb I: Muslim Identities and the Politics of Solidarity”Chair: Alyssa Miller (GIGA-Hamburg)

Speakers:

Guy Eyre, ABI Freiburg. Pious Paths Towards Politics? ‘Quietist’ Salafism and the Arab Revolts in the Maghreb

Alyssa Miller, GIGA-Hamburg. What Only a Mother Can Feel: The Promise and Limitations of Motherhood-based Solidarity in Tunisia.

Professor Elizabeth Bishop, Texas State University. Identities & Beliefs: The ‘M’ in UGEMA

Panel Two: “Identities and Beliefs in the Maghreb II: Imaginaries of the Other”

Chair: Hakki Taş (GIGA-Hamburg)

Speakers:

Julius Dihstelhoff, Philipps-Universität Marburg / MECAM. The foreign perception of German foreign policy by the Tunisian Nahda Party in the context of the Tunisian transformation processes after 2010

Shreya Parikh, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill / CERI-Sciences Po Paris. Hindaoui/a: The Racialized Imaginations of South Asian Bodies in the Middle East and North Africa

Arbia Selmi, researcher ERC LIVE-AR Ceped- IRD / associated researcher CMH-CMB-Forum Transregionale Studien. Tunisian Women’s Mobilizations for Equality: Identity, Beliefs and Unfinished Revolution?