The IFG aims to address entanglements and disparities and to consider the profound influence of social change on aesthetics as well as cultural practices (and vice versa). The main goal is to investigate how aesthetic representations of inequality and entanglement are narrated, visualized, and put on stage to present the futures of each associated society.

• How do aesthetic forms and cultural practices influence the process through which future models and imaginaries are (re)negotiated in the Maghreb?
• How do they reflect disparities? And vice versa: what influence do social transformations have on aesthetic and cultural practices?

This IFG explores how discourses on, as well as practices of, memory and justice are narrated and performed with a view to the future of post-conflict societies in the Maghreb region and the Middle East.

• How does dealing with the legacy of the past through memory and justice affect the (re-)negotiation of future imaginaries and expectations?
• How is memory narrated and performed from the perspective of disparate backgrounds, and what intentions to the future can be found?
• What concrete or future social and political changes are envisaged through the pursue of justice?

The focus of the IFG “Resources and Sustainability” is to examine the origins and potential effects of a range of economic and social strategies that are currently being explored to create an alternative model of sustainable economic development in the region. This IFG investigates how such strategies might lead to positive economic development and help address environmental challenges.

• How do societies deal with emerging socio-economic disparities and growing environmental problems?
• What economic models could ensure a socially and environmentally sustainable future?

The thematic focus of the IFG “Identities & Beliefs” is on the diversity of identities and beliefs in Tunisia, the Maghreb and beyond. More specifically and in line with MECAM’s overarching theme, the IFG is interested in methods in which identity-based and belief-related disparities shape the (re-)negotiation of imaginaries, visions and models of the future:

• 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?