The experience of repression and the mobilization of women in post-revolution Tunisia...

The experience of repression and the mobilization of women in post-revolution Tunisia: the case of an association with Islamic referent

Abstract

The Tunisian revolution of December 2010-January 2011, allowed for new women’s organizations to emerge. Many declared their “Arab and Muslim identity.” In view of the repression of Islamist groups (or persons held to be Islamist) under the governments of Bourguiba (1957-1987) and Ben Ali (1987-2011), subjection to political violence under an authoritarian regime is a source of legitimacy and illegitimacy for Tunisian women’s groups. The evolution of the collective identity of the new groups shows how a common experience of repression produced an informal network sustained by relations of solidarity. This experience of repression became a central issue in their collective action in civil society through the status of “victims,” produced by their encounter with the national and international actors of the transitional justice program.

Keywords

• Tunisia
• revolution
• women’s movements
• associations
• répression
• hijab