Security and religion in democratizing Tunisia: re-enacting surveillance through religious narratives and gendered dynamics

Abstract

Despite a process of democratization that started in 2011 and has often been described as successful (Stepan, 2012; Freedom House, 2015; Bugeja, 2016), until the recent backsliding process, some Tunisian national institutions have undergone little or no change. This was the case of the Ministry of Interior and the larger security apparatus whose reform was often discussed but never implemented (Grewal 2018). This research focuses on the intersection between the security apparatus and the state control over religion, examining the role of female civil servants working under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, called wa’ydhat. For the purpose of this research, security is understood as consisting “of everyday, routine, and sometimes unconscious engagements” (Ochs, 2011: 3) of practitioners in the religious and security sector. The analysis of the work of wa’ydhat allows us to highlight the connections between local and global narratives of security, which emphasize the role of women as central in the fight against terrorism due to their purported inherent “peaceful” qualities, and their actual role as watchers within a system of surveillance and control. As Moghadam claims, “at times of regime consolidation and state building, questions of gender, family and male-female relations come to the fore. The state becomes the manager of gender” (1993: 94). However, instead of producing new gender policies in conformity to the new historical moment Tunisia is reproducing the exact same debates and gender stereotyped roles of the past years. Interestingly, the work of wa’ydhat stands at the intersections between the religious and the security sector in Tunisia, highlighting the role of the state in controlling religious narratives and practices. In order to best examine this intersection, and the role of security practitioners in shaping and re-enacting security measures, we investigate their everyday experience and understanding of their position within the security apparatus. By inquiring about their everyday work, our aim is to highlight how “national security delineates individual experience” (Ochs, 2011: 3), how the national discourse on security is reproduced in day-to-day life and how in turn, these everyday practices shape the security apparatus. Analyzing the “everyday” or “mundane” dimension of security means focusing on the way in which security practices are interpreted, adapted, and/or negotiated by different individuals and groups through the lens of their lived experiences (Crawford and Hutchinson, 2016: 1190). With looking at practices of security reproduced in the work of practitioners, we can determine if and how dominant security narratives are adapted or rather challenged (Luckham, 2017), and how the legitimation of systems of security are understood by specific individuals and groups. While security policies and practices are often understood as a top-down and strongly hierarchical process, analyzing security practices at the micro level entails an understanding of the social construction of security as a horizontal process. The political establishment shapes the practices and narratives of the government and the international community. The work of the wa’ydhat is crucial to understanding of the security mechanism in Tunisia today. Furthermore, the presence of the wa’ydhat since 2011 fits into a dynamic of continuity of security policies with Ben Ali’s regime. In conclusion, the role of wa’ydhat within the control and surveillance apparatus in Tunisia exists at the intersection between the evolution of surveillance practices worldwide, under the umbrella of the global war on terror, and the history of state control over religion in the country, dating back to the years of Bourguiba. This article consists of three sections, starting with an overview of the debate around the moderate/radical divide in Tunisia. This section is crucial to understand the sociological and political background of the security policies, and explains how the struggle between the so-called secular forces and the religious parties have created a hierarchy between state-led Islam and non-state-led Islam, securitizing religion. The second section of this paper shows the evolution of the security apparatus within a frame of religion policing. Finally, we present the case of the wa’ydhat in the post-revolutionary setting as a critical example of securitization of Islam, and cooperation between security and religious management.