My interests, let’s say over the past 15 years, were essentially born out of a context of sociopolitical change in Tunisia. So, as an engaged researcher, I found myself in the midst of a social movement, in the middle of social activism. And as a researcher, of course, I feel it is my duty to study the movements through which my society—and especially young people in Tunisia—are going.
So, my name is Zouheir Ben Jannet. I am a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Sfax. I am part of the ECUMUS laboratory – which stands for State, Culture, and Mutations of Societies – and I am the former vice-president of the Tunisian Association of Sociology. I am mainly interested in youth issues in a broad sense, but always from the perspective of social change, social movements, youth practices, and also the vulnerabilities affecting young people—primarily in Tunisia, but I am also interested in the situation of youth in the broader Francophone world. Particularly, I focus on social movements and the involvement of young people in those movements.
In Tunisia, the issue of decolonizing knowledge is not a new one. It dates back to just after independence, that is, to the late 1950s. At that time, an intellectual movement emerged in Tunisia to speak out against colonial knowledge, which dominated the cultural and intellectual scene in the Maghreb in general, and Tunisia in particular. Some of the questions raised then, and still raised today, are: to what extent can we analyze society—or specific social phenomena—using a body of knowledge that does not originate from it, that was not produced in that context? Another question is: isn’t there, within Tunisian and Arabic literature, a set of concepts, methods, and knowledge that could help us understand contemporary Tunisian society? Especially knowing that Ibn Khaldun—who was originally an Arab writer living in the 15th century—developed an entire theory on the development of societies. His work has been translated into French and English and has been recognized by many sociologists and founders of the discipline. So, this raises the question: why not return to that Arab theoretical and sociological heritage to better understand the situation in Arab countries, and Tunisia in particular?
Tunisian sociology, which has been developing since the 1960s—so, more than half a century now—has yet to fully establish its own conceptual field, its own methodologies, its own conceptual tools that would allow young researchers to explain and understand Tunisia’s current situation.
As I mentioned, Tunisia benefits from a heritage going back to Ibn Khaldun, from the 14th and 15th centuries, but also from a post-independence generation. The first writings in sociology from that period spoke extensively about the modernization of society, schools, education, family planning, health, development, social inequalities, regional disparities—all of these topics were well studied by sociologists. After 2011, what was new for Tunisian sociologists was the rapid, almost radical change that occurred politically, and also culturally—in terms of public debate, public space, and so on. This compelled researchers to adjust their focus and perhaps open new research paths, particularly around political participation, citizenship, coexistence, tolerance, and new challenges such as terrorism, religious issues, and more. This has opened up a wide range of research areas, and more and more engaged sociologists are working on these topics, both within Tunisian networks and internationally.
Personally, over the past few years, I’ve been part of several international interdisciplinary research groups. We’ve worked on terrorism, violent extremism, the status of women, inequality, coexistence, and more. More and more sociologists are becoming interested in these emerging issues. I feel very satisfied with what I’ve been able to do, alongside several Tunisian sociologist colleagues who are doing their best—continuing to give lectures, write articles and books, and contribute to the ongoing debates in Tunisia. They are working, in one way or another, to promote an engaged sociology—a sociology that truly defends the interests of marginalized groups, vulnerable populations, underprivileged regions, and so on. There is a kind of sociology that supports and holds strong in today’s Tunisia.
