Tag: Tunisia

By Megan Gardner

My family always taught me to respect the sea. We spent nearly every weekend by the water, whether it was fishing or boating or swimming together. They regularly reminded my brothers and I that, while it seems peaceful, it is unforgiving and we don’t truly understand the power that it holds. I’ve always kept the strength of the sea in mind, but it wasn’t until this semester that I ever considered the magnitude of its power, nor the power of the sand.

This semester, I’ve been studying the migration crisis in the Euro-Mediterranean space. Since I arrived, I’ve been studying the Tunisian democratic transition process and the factors behind outward migration. A week ago, I arrived in Italy to study the realities of the system from this side of the sea. I have been attending lectures, visiting migrant welcome centers, meeting local NGOs, and visiting legal clinics. In one of these lectures, a founder of a local NGO spoke about the common migration routes from Sub-Saharan Africa to Southern Europe. We followed the process from beginning to end and spoke about the threats at each step. We were all familiar with the perils of crossing the sea, but not many of us were familiar with the dangers of the sand. He mentioned that almost four times as many people die crossing the Sahara than crossing the sea. These numbers aren’t publicized, because they are unknown. There are no existing NGOs that monitor the Sahara for migrants because of the inherent dangers, both political and natural, in the area. We can only speculate the numbers based on migrant accounts. In a separate conversation I had with my professor, Mounir Khelifa, he warned me “not to underestimate the power of that sand,” while motioning to the Sahara.

In Sicily, the strength of the sea cannot be forgotten. The rocks that act as a barrier from the water are hidden by graffiti from artists reminding the public of the thousands of migrants who have lost their lives in pursuit of a better future. The desert and the sea have the power to take life and the power to provide opportunity. Their decisions are ruthless and dispassionate. My conception of the power behind the sea and the sand has shifted. Not only do they hold a such a raw, primitive power, but they also hold a deeper power. They represent an obstacle on the path to a better future. When I watch the sea or walk through the desert, it’s impossible not to think of both their beauty and their puissance.

By Megan Gardner

Tunisia is and has always been in the crossroads of many great civilizations. Each of these civilizations have helped to shape and form the unique cultures and society of Tunisia today. They simultaneously identify as part of North Africa, part of the Arab world, part of the Mediterranean Basin. Their land has been claimed by the Amazigh, the Romans, the French. Each have left lasting marks on the cultural landscape of the country. Just last week, my group went on an excursion to the south of the country. In just a few days, we saw a Roman amphitheater, rode camels in the Sahara, and stayed in troglodytes that were inhabited by the Amazigh for centuries.

In every country I’ve studied in, there’s been a clear preference for either coffee or tea. When I studied in France, there was a clear preference for coffee. Each street is lined with cafés and terraces where people enjoyed sipping on their coffee while watching the world go by. When I studied in China, the obvious favorite was tea. Instead of cafés, the streets were adorned with tea houses and tea shops where people would spend hundreds of yuan for a few good cups and a great experience. Unless I wanted to spend a significant amount of money, it was nearly impossible to find any coffee that wasn’t instant. In Tunisia, I’ve found that neither tea nor coffee is as blatantly favored. It is just as common to see people sipping mint tea as it is to see people enjoying a strong coffee in each café.

A country’s predilection for either tea or coffee may not be culturally significant. However, in each of these countries I’ve studied in, café culture is an integral part of the larger culture. Cafés are a place where all people gather together and discuss everything from grand concepts to simple chit chat. Everyone partakes, everyone speaks, ideas are exchanged over a hot drink. In Western societies, such as France, this drink tends to be coffee. In Eastern societies such as China, this drink tends to be tea. While the origins of this difference is probably about the agricultural feasibility of each crop, today, when each product is readily available at the market, it represents an interesting cultural divide. A schism where Tunisia finds itself in the middle. Like so much in the Tunisian culture and Tunisian history, its caught in the crossroads. It teaches Arabic and French. It eats croissants and harissa. It’s stuck between the coffee-lovers and the tea-lovers.

By Megan Gardner

Culture is a difficult concept to define. Many scholars disagree on what exactly constitutes a culture. What falls under “culture”? What does not? Who gets to decide what is a culture? Where are borders drawn? Who draws those borders? In Yuval Noah Harari’s book “Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind,” Harari crafts an alternative definition of culture based in anthropology and history. He states that each society has contradictory belief systems that cannot simultaneously exist, and it is the dissonance and relationship between these ideas that form culture. In his own words, he writes that “if tensions, conflicts and irresolvable dilemmas are the spice of every culture, human beings who belong to any particular culture must hold contradictory beliefs and be driven by incompatible values. It’s such an essential feature of any culture that it even has a name: cognitive dissonance ... Had people been unable to hold contradictory beliefs and values, it would probably have been impossible to establish and maintain any human culture.” Essentially, Harari argues that culture is created by the points of contention within it. In many Western democracies, this cognitive dissonance exists between the deeply held fundamental values of equality and individual freedom. Yuval frames these as conflicting values because “equality can only be ensured by curtailing the freedoms of those who are better off.” It’s at the crossroads where these two values interact and conflict that culture and politics occur.

If someone were to take a snapshot of Tunisia at this moment in time, particularly the political landscape, two opposing sides would immediately come into view: traditionalism v. modernism. Tunisia honors its past, but simultaneously tries to move itself into the future. Tunisia is at a critical moment in its history where it is trying to build a new government. Since the revolution, there’s been an internal debate about the role that the past should play in state-building efforts. Many believe that the answers to any political question lay in the past and we simply just have to look back to find them. They focus on the glorious days of Carthage and other great empires. They believe that in order to reclaim that glory, the government should be rebuilt in a way thats inspired by the value systems of previous eras where the country was strong. In contrast, there are many who believe that the revolution should have represented a permanent cut from the past. They believe that the country needs to have its eyes fixed on the future and work towards that vision rather than continuously look behind it. The interactions between these two groups and sets of values is shaping the modern state of Tunisia as well as its culture. The revolution was not just a political upheaval, but an opportunity for cultural change.