Tunisia Office, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University

"The Nature of Conquest: P.E. Botta and French Exploration in Mehmet Ali’s Egypt and the Red Sea"; A Lecture by Sahar Bazzaz,
Professor of the History of the Middle East and North Africa, College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
Thursday, March 26, 2026, at 05:30 PM (Tunis)
Admission Free

The Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University Invites you to:

The Nature of Conquest: P.E. Botta and French Exploration in Mehmet Ali’s Egypt and the Red Sea

A Lecture by:

Sahar Bazzaz
Professor of the History of the Middle East and North Africa
College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Thursday, March 26, 2026
05:30-07:30 PM (Tunis)

Sahar Bazzaz received her PhD in History/Middle Eastern Studies from CMES (Harvard University) and is professor of MENA history at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Among her publications are: Forgotten Saints: History, Power and Politics in the Making of Modern Morocco (HUP, 2010); she is co-editor of and contributor to Imperial Geographies in Byzantine and Ottoman Space (HUP, 2013) and co-editor of The Globalization of Science in the Middle East, a special issue of the British Journal for the History of Science (2022).

This event will be held in person at the Harvard CMES Tunisia Office. Admission Free

Questions: [email protected].

Event Page : https://cmestunisia.fas.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming

The Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University Invites you to:

The Nature of Conquest: P.E. Botta and French Exploration in Mehmet Ali’s Egypt and the Red Sea

A Lecture by:

Sahar Bazzaz
Professor of the History of the Middle East and North Africa
College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Thursday, March 26, 2026
05:30-07:30 PM (Tunis)

Sahar Bazzaz received her PhD in History/Middle Eastern Studies from CMES (Harvard University) and is professor of MENA history at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Among her publications are: Forgotten Saints: History, Power and Politics in the Making of Modern Morocco (HUP, 2010); she is co-editor of and contributor to Imperial Geographies in Byzantine and Ottoman Space (HUP, 2013) and co-editor of The Globalization of Science in the Middle East, a special issue of the British Journal for the History of Science (2022).

This event will be held in person at the Harvard CMES Tunisia Office. Admission Free

Questions: [email protected].

Event Page : https://cmestunisia.fas.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming

The Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University Invites you to the Third Edition of:

LEARNING FROM THE MEDINA
A Series on Historical Landscapes, Indigenous Urban Knowledge, and Sustainable Practices

Moderated by:
Gareth Doherty
Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
Harvard Graduate School of Design

Friday, January 09, 2026
05:00-07:00 PM (Tunis)
This event will be held in person.
Admission Free

Third Edition Panelists:

Jamila Binous
“A Brief Urban History of the Medina of Tunis: A Mediterranean City Between Two Waterbodies”

Jamila Binous is an urbanist and historian of the city of Tunis, with a lifelong career at the Association for the Safeguarding of the Medina of Tunis (ASM). She studied History and Geography at the University of Tunis, and Urbanism at the University of Tours in France. In 1967, she joined the embryonic Bureau d ‘Etude AUASM, which gradually merged with the ASM to form the association that would later gain international recognition for its work in preserving the urban heritage of Tunis.

In the 1970s, she was part of the team that conducted a systematic survey of the Medina and produced a 1:250 scale map, an unprecedented achievement that played a crucial role in the inscription of the Medina of Tunis as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in October 1979. Through her work at ASM, Binous participated in developing the Plan d’Aménagement for the Medina which defined major revitalization zones of the historic city. The Hafsia project - one of these initiatives to be completed- won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture twice, in 1983 and 1995. Throughout the 1980s, Jamila Binous served as Secretary-General of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) Tunisia. She was appointed to the International Committee of Historic Towns and Villages at UNESCO and ICOMOS and co-authored the Charter for the Conservation of Historic Towns and Urban Areas, adopted in 1987. Her scholarship and public engagement have played a central role in raising awareness of the historical and architectural value of the Medina of Tunis through research, conferences, and guided heritage tours.

Publications by Jamila Binous include: Houses of the Medina: Tunis (2002) co authored with Salah Jabeur, an illustrated exploration of domestic architecture in the Medina of Tunis. Tunis (1985), co authored with Fatma Ben Becher and Jellal Abdelkafi, a study of the city’s history and urban fabric.

Adnen el Ghali

“The City by the Buhayra Shores: The Formation of the Lake Quarter in Medieval and Ottoman Tunis”

Adnen el Ghali is an architect and urban planner, holding degrees in political science and a doctorate in history from the Université libre de Bruxelles. He is currently a research fellow at the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Turin, where he contributes to the ERC Consolidator Grant project REDMIX (2023), Unpacking Mixedness for an Inclusive History of the Red Sea, 1800s–2000s. A former fellow of the École Française de Rome and the Academia Belgica in Rome, Adnen el Ghali is a member of the Association for the Safeguarding of the Medina (ASM) of Tunis and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). His research bridges architecture, urbanism, history, and diplomatic studies, with a focus on heritage, consular history, and the interplay between spatial form and political representation.
El Ghali’s publications include: Quand la diplomatie fait la ville: Le quartier consulaire du Tunis ottoman (2025), a book that examines how European consular institutions shaped the urban landscape of Ottoman Tunis; and La route des consuls: Les territoires de la diplomatie à Tunis (2015), which reconstructs the historical trajectory of diplomatic spaces within the medina of Tunis.

Imen Labidi

“Sebkhet Sejoumi between Degradation and Resilience: An Urban Wetland on the Fringes of the Medina of Tunis”

Imen Labidi is a wetland conservation specialist with expertise in environmental project management, biodiversity protection, sustainable development, and citizen engagement. Her work advocates for an inclusive environmental culture and the resilience of Tunisian ecosystems. She has been actively involved in the preservation of Sebkhet Sejoumi, a major ecological site in the city of Tunis, adjacent to its historic Medina, designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance since 2007, and facing increasing threats from large-scale urbanization and pollution.
Imen Labidi is also a conservation trainer and academic facilitator. She serves as Tunisia’s focal point for the World Wetlands Network. She is active within Les Amis des Oiseaux (BirdLife Tunisia) and Réseau Enfants de la Terre, where she has coordinated internationally funded projects focusing on conservation, climate justice, environmental education, participatory monitoring, and innovative ecological solutions. She is a member of the IUCN Dung Beetle Specialist Group and the Entomological Society of France (SEF). She holds a PhD in Biology and Ecology from the University of Tunis El Manar.

Questions: [email protected].
Event Page : https://cmestunisia.fas.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming

The Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University Invites you to:
“Gens Suspects”: Surveillance and Detention in Colonial Tunisia (1911-28)

A Lecture by:
Arwa Labidi, Assistant Professor, University of Jendouba, Tunisia;
Hazem Ben-Gacem Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University

Tuesday, July 01, 2025
03:00-05:00 PM (Tunis)

Arwa Labidi is a historian of Contemporary Tunisia. She received her PhD in History from the University of Paris Nanterre in 2019. Since 2022, she has been an Assistant Professor at the University of Jendouba. She is the author of two series of historical investigations for the Tunisian media platform Inkyfada : “Gens suspects” (Suspicious People) and “Le Dessous des dates” (“Beyond the Dates”). Her current research focuses on the forms of colonial repression in Tunisia in the early 20th century. She spent the 2024–25 academic year at CMES, Harvard University, as a Hazem Ben Gacem Postdoctoral Fellow.

This event will be held in person.
Admission Free
Questions: [email protected].
Event Page : https://cmestunisia.fas.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming

The Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University Invites you to:

"Remaking Citizenship: Revolution, Gender, and the Politics of Democracy in Tunisia"

A Lecture by: Ola Galal
Clinical Assistant Professor of Global Cultures at New York University


Ola Galal is Clinical Assistant Professor of Global Cultures at New York University’s Liberal Studies where she teaches and conducts research at the intersection of Political Anthropology, Gender Studies, and Middle East and African Studies. As an interdisciplinary scholar and publicly engaged writer, she wrote articles that were published in peer-reviewed journals such as Political and Legal Anthropology Review and general media outlets such as Mada Masr and Bloomberg Businessweek. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York and a B.A. in journalism from the American University in Cairo.

Tuesday, June 03, 2025
03:00-05:00 PM (Tunis)

This event will be held in person.

Admission Free
Questions: [email protected].

Event Page : ttps://cmestunisia.fas.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming

POST-LIBERALISM AND THE POLITICS OF LIBERATION:
BRAZILIAN FAVELAS AS EMERGING TERRITORIES OF FREEDOM

A Lecture by:
Moisés Lino e Silva
Professor of Anthropology
Federal University of Bahia, Brazil

Friday, May 02, 2025
05:30-07:30 PM (Tunis)

Moisés Lino e Silva is tenured faculty in the department of anthropology at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) in Brazil. As a political anthropologist in both Brazil and Nigeria, he specializes in the ethnographic study of freedom and authority in relation to poverty, sexuality, race, and religion. He is the author of Minoritarian Liberalism: A Tr****ti Life in a Brazilian Favela. Lino e Silva has been selected as a World Social Science fellow by the International Social Science Council (UNESCO).

This event will be held in person.
Admission Free
Questions: [email protected].
Event Page : https://cmestunisia.fas.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming

Information Session on Master's Degree Programs at Harvard Kennedy School

Join Assistant Dean for Enrollment Services at the Harvard Kennedy School, Meredith Siegle, to learn more about the application process and funding opportunities for HKS master’s in public policy (MPP), Master in Public Administration (MPA),
Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID), and the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration (MC/MPA)

This session will be held on:

Wednesday, 29 January 2025
from 5:30 to 6:30 pm

at the
Tunisia Office
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Harvard University
Immeuble Slim, Rue de l’Euro, Les jardins du Lac II, Tunis

The presentation will be in English.
Admission is free.

To learn more, visit the HKS website: www.hks.harvard.edu/educational-programs/masters-programs
For all questions, contact: [email protected]
___________________________________________
Please notice that this information session is intended for mid-career candidates seeking information about graduate study at the Harvard Kennedy School. For information about undergraduate education, please consult the Harvard College website: https://college.harvard.edu/. For information about graduate study, please consult the main university website: https://www.harvard.edu/schools

The Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University Invites you to:

LEARNING FROM THE MEDINA (2)

The Second Edition of a Series on Historical Landscapes, Indigenous Urban Knowledge and Sustainable Practices Moderated by:

Gareth Doherty
Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture Harvard Graduate School of Design

With:

Yassine Turki, Urban Planner
Imene Zhioua, Architect and Lecturer at ENAU
Aymen Gharbi, Architect and Curator

Wednesday, January 15, 2025
05:30-07:30 PM (Tunis)

About the Panelists:

Yassine Turki is an urban planner. He began his career at the Urban Agency of Greater Tunis, where he was responsible for transportation studies and monitoring urbanization processes in the capital. In 2004, he joined the University of Carthage (ISTEUB) as the Director of the Urban Planning Department. He served as the president of the Tunisian Association of Town Planners from 2013 to 2015. Yassine Turki holds a PhD in Civil Engineering. His current research focuses on decentralization and local governance in Arab countries, as well as public space policies and uses.

Imene Zhioua is an architect and senior lecturer at the National School of Architecture and Urban Planning, at the University of Carthage. She leads project workshops and teaches courses on landscape and the environment. She holds a PhD in Urban Planning and Development from the University of Geneva (2022). Her research focuses on landscape and urban green spaces in Greater Tunis as perceived from an urban, historical, social and environmental perspective.

Aymen Gharbi is an architect, curator and cultural producer who lives and works in the medina of Tunis. Since 2016, his curatorial practice has been dedicated to contemporary art in dialogue with cultural heritage. With a background in architecture and heritage research, he has directed light and media art projects in Tunisia, as well as in Jordan and Mali. In his doctoral research, teaching and training, he uses cross-linguistic approaches to develop a Tunisian vocabulary to communicate and mediate contemporary art projects in the Tunisian dialect.

This event will be held in person.
Admission Free
Questions: [email protected].
Event Page : https://cmestunisia.fas.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming

The Tunisia Office, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
in collaboration with
CEMAT Centre d’Etudes Maghrébines à Tunis

Present:

SH’HILI (SIROCCO)
A Film by Habib Ayeb
Film-Maker, Producer and Geographer

Friday, January 10, 2025
From 4:30 to 6:00 PM (Tunis)
______________________

Habib Ayeb is a filmmaker, producer and geographer whose work focuses on issues of environmental justice, food sovereignty, marginality and poverty in rural North Africa. He teaches and researches social geography at the University of Paris 8-St Denis). He is an affiliated researcher at CEDEJ (Centre d'Etudes et de Documentation Juridiques et Sociales), the Social Research Center of the American University in Cairo, the IRD (French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development). He is co-founder of the Observatory of Food Sovereignty and Environment (OSAE), a research platform dedicated to the study and promotion of sustainable development in the Maghreb region.

Habib Ayeb’s work combines academic research, activism, and cinematographic storytelling. His films show the struggles of rural communities facing ramping climate change and advocate for more sustainable and equitable environmental policies. Some of his documentaries include:

"Gabes Labess (All Is Well in Gabes)" (2014): A documentary showcasing the environmental devastation caused by phosphate industrial plants in the coastal oasis of Gabes, Tunisia;

"Couscous: The Seeds of Dignity" (2017): A film that examines food sovereignty and the pivotal role of women farmers in resisting the destruction of rural life by globalized agricultural systems;

"Om Layoun: Mother of the Springs" (2021): A documentary that explores water scarcity and inequality in Tunisia, focusing on the lives of those most affected by resource mismanagement.

In his latest film, "Sh’hili" (2024), Habib Ayeb travels across the western Mediterranean, in Tunisia, Italy, Morrocco, interviewing farmers about their struggles with climate change, desertification, and drought.

This event is organized as part of the AIMS American Institute for Maghreb Studies 2025 Pre-Conference Program

The film screening and discussion will be held in person.

Admission Free
Questions: [email protected].

Event Page : https://cmestunisia.fas.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming

TODAY Friday, November 08, 2024 @ 5:30 PM (Tunis)

“From Andalusians to Moriscos: Building a Powerful Cultural Community in Medieval and Early Modern Tunisia”
A Lecture by: Houssem E. Chachia, Assistant Professor of History, University of Tunis

The Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University and the Mediterranean Seminar invite you to:

BEFORE THE NATION
A lecture series in Mediterranean Studies

Keynote Speakers:

Brian A. Catlos
Professor of Religious Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder
“Ethno-religious Diversity in the Age of Convergence: A Structural Approach”

On Wednesday, November 06, 2024
From 5:30 to 7:30 PM (Tunis)
_________________________________________

Cemal Kafadar
Professor of History, Harvard University
“Turkish Verse in Maghribi Turf: The Poetry of North African Soldiers of the Ottoman Empire”

On Thursday, November 07, 2024
From 5:30 to 7:30 PM (Tunis)
_________________________________________

Houssem E. Chachia
Assistant Professor of History, University of Tunis
“From Andalusians to Moriscos: Building a Powerful Cultural Community in Medieval and Early Modern Tunisia”

On Friday, November 08, 2024
From 5:30 to 7:30 PM (Tunis)
__________________________________________

Opening Remarks by:
William Granara, Research Professor of Arabic, Harvard University

The three lectures will be held in person.
Admission is free.
Questions: [email protected]
Event Page: https://cmestunisia.fas.harvard.edu/event/nation