Assessment of the relation of nationalist movement and religion in Tunisia in the pre-independence period from an ethnosymbolic approach (1911-1956)

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between religion and nationalism through the independence movement in Tunisia during the French Protectorate. This work, which adopts an ethno-symbolic approach unlike primordia list and constructivist approaches that have emerged in these studies of nationalism, reveals that the leaders who lead the nationalist movement in Tunisia aim to establish a nation-state by using religious symbols. In this context, the study argues that the attitude of the nationalist movement on religion can be better understood in the light of the ideological and political struggles that are effective in the pre-independence period. Emphasizing that nationalist elites in Tunisia instrumentalize religious symbols to reach their goals, it is claimed that the ethno-symbolic approach offers a more comprehensive view than any other approach in the field of nationalism.