Family Life in Tunisia after the Revolution of 2011

Two Women and Two Men in a Changing Time

in Anthropology of the Middle East
Author:
Irene MaffiUniversity of Lausanne Irene.maffi@unil.ch

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ame.2016.120205
Keywords:
continuity; family; law; love; marriage; revolution; sexuality; Tunisia
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Abstract

Postcolonial Tunisia has gone through substantial transformations of its legal and socio-economic structures. Habib Bourguiba began the work of social and juridical engineering aimed to make the independent state a modern country, contributing to profound changes in family structures. In this article, I intend to investigate the family life of two women and two men with whom I established friendships during the fieldwork I carried out in Tunisia between 2013 and 2014. Examining the relationships of my interlocutors with their family members, I will depict an ethnographic portrait of a few Tunisian families. While they are not representative of Tunisian society, they nevertheless allow insight into a specific sector of it and help understand the effects of the revolution of 2011 on family structures.

Contributor Notes

Irene Maffi is Professor of social anthropology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. She has carried out ethnographic research in Jordan, Switzerland and Tunisia. Her research interests focus on childbirth, breastfeeding, medical technologies, medical and paramedical professions, contraception, abortion and conceptions of the female body. E-mail: Irene.maffi@unil.ch

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Anthropology of the Middle East

Cover Anthropology of the Middle East
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
18
Keywords:
continuity; family; law; love; marriage; revolution; sexuality; Tunisia
Print Publication Date:
01 Dec 2017
Online Publication Date:
01 Dec 2017
Copyright:
© Berghahn Books 2017

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