The revolt of 1864 in Tunisia: History, power, and memory.

摘要

The revolt of 1864, otherwise known as "the revolt of Ali bin Ghadhaham" was a tribally-led anti-tax uprising that shook the entire Regency of Tunis, then a nominal province of the Ottoman Empire. Distinctive for the swiftness of its mobilization, the development of far-flung coalitions including urban centers, and its spectacular failure, it has had a lasting impact on generations of Tunisians. This dissertation examines the historiography of the 1864 rebellion over three distinct time periods: the pre-colonial nineteenth century; the colonial era, 1881-1956; and the nationalist and post-colonial periods, up to the present day.;Chapter one explores the decades of the 1850s-1870s focusing on the politics of reform (Tanzimat) using ibn Diyaf's secretly written history of the period, the official view of the rebellion presented in local newspaper reports, and Bayram V's chronicle published while in exile in Egypt.;Chapter two examines the Protectorate period, from the 1890s to 1956. The colonial journal, La Revue Tunisienne printed articles on aspects of the rebellion using ibn Diyaf as a key text, but slowly incorporated other source material to justify France's civilizing mission. Defending French colonialism against both the challenges of the Italians from without and unionized worker consciousness from within, colonial archivist Pierrre Grandchamp in the mid 1930s published a documentary collection which excised key primary source material, and framed the rebellion as an example of archetypal bedouin violence. Grandchamp's ellisions controlled the narrative of 1864 for generations.;Chapter three covers how nationalist ideology structured the post-independence period of the 1950s to the present day. Pressured by the state, scholars emphasized the revolt of the coasta ltowns over the countryside, modernizing the nation, while "detribalizing" the rebellion. Media outlets hammered messages of social cohesion to overcome the daunting challenge of underdevelopment, blamed on "tribalism's fratricidal struggles." Counter-narratives that re-emphasized the tribal element emerged in regional academic conferences. These interventions focused on the character foibles, achievements, and failings of the rebel leader.;Finally, chapter four examines the products and practices of popular memory as deployed in speeches, newspaper editorials, museums of tribal culture, textbooks, a novel and poem, poetry festivals, interviews with local residents and historians, as well as puzzling relics of the rebel leader in the national archives.;This study exposes how ideology has filled in the gap between politically motivated interpretation and the acts, behaviors, and discourse of its principal protagonists. Outside the historiographical debates of intellectuals in newspapers or academic conferences, there is no public commemoration of the 1864 revolt as an event. By examining the continuities and ruptures in interpretations, by inquiring how changing views uphold each successive regimes' power structure, this dissertation explores the relations of power, history, and memory in a complex interplay of temporalities, ideologies, and visions of the nation.