Renegotiating Gender and the State in Tunisia between 2011 and 2014: Power, Positionality, and the Public Sphere

Abstract

Anna Antonakis' analysis of the Tunisian transformation process (2011-2014) displays how negotiations of gender initiating new political orders do not only happen in legal and political institutions but also in media representations and on a daily basis in the family and public space. While conventionalized as a "model for the region", this book outlines how the Tunisian transformation missed to address social inequalities and local marginalization as much as substantial challenges of a secular but conservative gender order inscribed in a Western hegemonic concept of modernity. She introduces the concept of "dissembled secularism" to explain major conflict lines in the public sphere and the exploitation of gender politics in a context of post-colonial dependencies.;Anna Antonakis' analysis of the Tunisian transformation process (2011-2014) displays how negotiations of gender initiating new political orders do not only happen in legal and political institutions but also in media representations and on a daily basis in the family and public space. While conventionalized as a "model for the region", this book outlines how the Tunisian transformation missed to address social inequalities and local marginalization as much as substantial challenges of a secular but conservative gender order inscribed in a Western hegemonic concept of modernity. She introduces the concept of "dissembled secularism" to explain major conflict lines in the public sphere and the exploitation of gender politics in a context of post-colonial dependencies. Contents Exploitation and instrumentalization of women's rights Combining public sphere and intersectional theory Post-colonial regimes in Tunisia Intersectional analysis of transformation, including political institutions, media and associations after the uprisings of 2011 Target Groups Researchers and students in political science with a special interest in political communication, intersectional approaches and the study of societies in transformation Scholars, activists and diplomats interested in the "Arab Spring" and North Africa The Author Dr. Anna Antonakis is a researcher and consultant in the field of Gender, Media and Security. She investigated the Tunisian transformation process from 2013-2016 as a doctoral fellow at the SWP. .;