The revolt of 1864 in Tunisia [Ressource électronique] : history, power, and memory / by Silvia Marsans-Sakly

Ph. D. : Middle East and Islamic studies : New York University : 2010

Bibliogr. p. 359-389

The search for this story began, oddly enough with the description of a Kabyle house in a book about Egypt.1 While in graduate school, the talk in academic circles centered on coloniality, the post-colonial moment, and the Ŗendŗ of history. It left me wondering how we could write about the pre-colonial without falling into the teleological trap of treating the period as a blank slate, an unchanging type, or the antechamber to both colonialism and nationalism. The search for topics in pre-colonial Tunisia led me to the brief constitutional reform era, probably the most discussed period in Tunisian history. Repeatedly, I ran into persistent but vague references to Ŗthe eventsŗ of 1864 which abruptly ended the constitutional experiment. As I read backward into the historiography, the Ŗrevoltŗ became a Ŗrevolutionŗ and then a protracted civil war among tribes that had killed twenty per cent of the population. The verdict was clear: a traditionally-minded populace rose up against the tide of history, violently rejecting state-imposed reforms and technological innovations. Yet I perceived that this event would prove illuminating for understanding pre-colonial loyalties and social structure. When I arrived in country, it seemed everyone knew something about 1864. Not only that, the topic had The search for this story began, oddly enough with the description of a Kabyle house in a book about Egypt.1 While in graduate school, the talk in academic circles centered on coloniality, the post-colonial moment, and the Ŗendŗ of history. It left me wondering how we could write about the pre-colonial without falling into the teleological trap of treating the period as a blank slate, an unchanging type, or the antechamber to both colonialism and nationalism. The search for topics in pre-colonial Tunisia led me to the brief constitutional reform era, probably the most discussed period in Tunisian history. Repeatedly, I ran into persistent but vague references to Ŗthe eventsŗ of 1864 which abruptly ended the constitutional experiment. As I read backward into the historiography, the Ŗrevoltŗ became a Ŗrevolutionŗ and then a protracted civil war among tribes that had killed twenty per cent of the population. The verdict was clear: a traditionally-minded populace rose up against the tide of history, violently rejecting state-imposed reforms and technological innovations. Yet I perceived that this event would prove illuminating for understanding pre-colonial loyalties and social structure. When I arrived in country, it seemed everyone knew something about 1864. Not only that, the topic had