Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ConflictualDemocracy (Conflictual Democracy: Urban politics, gender and local governance in post-revolution Tunisia)
Période du rapport: 2022-09-01 au 2024-08-31
ConflictualDemocracy was conceived as a response to the 2011 Arab uprisings and their manifestations in Tunisia. Proposing to shift the lens from the national level to the city and its institutional municipal form, the project aimed to explore whether contestation politics at the municipal level weakened the revolution's democratic achievements. At stake was understanding democratic transformation beyond the procedural level (for example elections), to examine how citizens, especially poorer marginalized Tunisians, experienced democracy daily as a system of practices, values, and processes, and crucially outcomes affecting their lives and livelihoods.
To study democratic transformation, the project had three entry points: (i) the participation of citizens from popular neighbourhoods in municipal investment planning and their engagements with their municipalities, (ii) the experiences of female mayors elected to serve on municipal council in balancing the management of municipal affairs with male-dominated upper echelons of government, and (iii) the judicialization of local politics whereby some mayors were suing the centralized administration because of intervention in their municipal affairs.
The overall objectives of the project were understanding local politics as a relational process between citizens and the "local state", the gendering of this space of encounter, and the extent to which this gendered space of encounter gave rise to conflict between citizens and "the state" perceived as unresponsive to their expectations.
To study democratic transformation, the project had three entry points: (i) the participation of citizens from popular neighbourhoods in municipal investment planning and their engagements with their municipalities, (ii) the experiences of female mayors elected to serve on municipal council in balancing the management of municipal affairs with male-dominated upper echelons of government, and (iii) the judicialization of local politics whereby some mayors were suing the centralized administration because of intervention in their municipal affairs.
The overall objectives of the project were understanding local politics as a relational process between citizens and the "local state", the gendering of this space of encounter, and the extent to which this gendered space of encounter gave rise to conflict between citizens and "the state" perceived as unresponsive to their expectations.
During 24 months of research, I conducted research, I published one article and submitted another one, taught a graduate class, strengthened my relationships with academics in Belgium, presented my work at national and international venues, and landed a tenure-track academic job.
I conducted fieldwork in Tunisia with women from popular neighbourhoods about their investments in building their homes through debt, their understanding of politics, and their engagements with local governments. I conducted archival research about the growth of the first precursors to popular neighbourhoods under the French protectorate (1861-1956), the ways they were managed by colonial authorities, and the ways that inhabitants of these neighbourhoods made claims upon colonial authorities about the governance of their living spaces. I partnered with a community organization called El Mouvma, trained 19 young researchers on basic survey methods, and conducted a community-engaged survey where they could ask questions about the neighborhood I have been working on, and one that is within their municipality.
I published one article in Gender, Place and Culture, and I wrote another article which was reviewed and accepted and will be published in Feminist Economics by June 2025.
I taught a graduate class on "Space and Contentious Politics in the Maghreb", and participated in the meetings of the Middle East and North Africa Research Group (MENARG) in the Department of Conflict and Development Studies, workshopping PhD students' work in progress.
I strengthened my network of colleagues at the Department of Conflict and Development Studies at Ghent University, as well as academics at ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) in Brussels, and presented my work at the MENARG brown bag series and at the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meetings in Montreal, Canada in November 2023. Finally interviewed for academic jobs in Brussels and beyond, and secured a tenure-track academic job at the University of Toronto.
I conducted fieldwork in Tunisia with women from popular neighbourhoods about their investments in building their homes through debt, their understanding of politics, and their engagements with local governments. I conducted archival research about the growth of the first precursors to popular neighbourhoods under the French protectorate (1861-1956), the ways they were managed by colonial authorities, and the ways that inhabitants of these neighbourhoods made claims upon colonial authorities about the governance of their living spaces. I partnered with a community organization called El Mouvma, trained 19 young researchers on basic survey methods, and conducted a community-engaged survey where they could ask questions about the neighborhood I have been working on, and one that is within their municipality.
I published one article in Gender, Place and Culture, and I wrote another article which was reviewed and accepted and will be published in Feminist Economics by June 2025.
I taught a graduate class on "Space and Contentious Politics in the Maghreb", and participated in the meetings of the Middle East and North Africa Research Group (MENARG) in the Department of Conflict and Development Studies, workshopping PhD students' work in progress.
I strengthened my network of colleagues at the Department of Conflict and Development Studies at Ghent University, as well as academics at ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) in Brussels, and presented my work at the MENARG brown bag series and at the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meetings in Montreal, Canada in November 2023. Finally interviewed for academic jobs in Brussels and beyond, and secured a tenure-track academic job at the University of Toronto.
Between the time I conceived of this project (August 2020) and the time I started implementing it (August 2024), the political situation in Tunisia had drastically changed. President Kais Said suspended the parliament, revamped the 2014 Constitution, and revised the organic law regulating the work of local governments. These changes had repercussions on the research I was able to undertake in Tunisia while keeping my interlocutors and myself safe. As a result, I shifted this project to focus on poor women's understanding and experiences of the state through the processes of incrementally building their homes in popular neighbourhoods. My findings show that although when asked directly about their political opinions, poorer women from popular neighbourhoods disavow politics, they proceed to discuss the stuff of politics at length. Far from being unpoliticized, women from popular neighbourhoods expect "the state" to preserve their dignity and livelihoods, and make claims on the state for the provision of basic services that make their neighbourhoods liveable, connect their neighbourhoods to the rest of the city, and protect their children, and guarantee them an environment where they can thrive.
Oftentimes, women's politicization happens in a socio-economically constrained environment of poverty, and over-indebtedness. Exploring the impact of micro-finance on these women's lives and livelihoods, my work shows how, for these women, debt is both dispossessive and the ground for politicization, and the articulation of demands on "the state".
Oftentimes, women's politicization happens in a socio-economically constrained environment of poverty, and over-indebtedness. Exploring the impact of micro-finance on these women's lives and livelihoods, my work shows how, for these women, debt is both dispossessive and the ground for politicization, and the articulation of demands on "the state".