Tunisian Women’s Reflections upon Solidarity: Yesterday and Today

Abstract

This study compares the literary and historical perspectives on solidarity among Tunisian women that developed in the 1980s with those that emerged after the 2011 revolution. Evelyne Accad’s autobiographical account Blessures des Mots: Journal de Tunisie (1993) and Neila Jrad’s historical essay Memoire de l’oubli: Reflexion critique sur les experiences feministes des annees quatre-vingt (1996) illustrate the sociopolitical climate of the earliest period. Azza Filali’s novel Les Intranquilles (2014), portraying the city of Tunis in the aftermath of the January 14, 2011 revolution, will be interpreted in conjunction with the works of sociopolitical feminist critics in order to give an overview of the manifold tensions and conflicting belief systems that characterize the conditions of women living in post-revolution Tunisia. Both Accad and Filali emphasize the importance of reconstructing a forgotten link with the inner self while simultaneously establishing new personal and social practices. It is suggested that self-disclosure and meaningful communication should complement personal reflection and examination. This process entails a reclaiming of the original sense of communication, intended here as communion, commonality, and the ability to share and to accomplish together. At the core of both works lies an urgent call to women to create a new language in order to build confidence and to establish meaningful, supportive relationships and to develop more nurturing and secure social structures. These new forms of solidarity initiated by women will ultimately serve to defy oppressive societal conformity and inertia, reconfigure interpersonal relationships, and reinforce female solidarity.