The radical changes brought about by the so-called Arab Spring still pose major challenges to North African societies today, which are also of relevance to Europe. Tunisia has embarked on the arduous path to democracy, successfully setting course for a democratic constitutional state. What are the models of a better future that the Maghreb countries are struggling for? Social inequality, the experience of insecurity and historical legacies dominate current social debates in North Africa. The serious economic and ecological problems facing North African countries are also reflected in their strategies for the future. How are current disparities and social change reflected in the cultural domain?
The Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM), which will be based at the University of Tunis, will address these socio-politically relevant questions. In March 2020, social scientists and humanities scholars from Germany, together with colleagues from the University of Tunis, will begin setting up this international research centre. On the German side, the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg and the Berlin Forum Transregional Studies are involved as coordinators in addition to Leipzig University and the University of Marburg.
While the Institute of Geography is in charge of Leipzig University’s contribution, our Institute of Oriental Studies and the SEPT programme are also involved in setting up the Centre. Leipzig’s activities will focus on creating an international research group on the topic of “Inequality and Mobility” as well as establishing a secondary location in Morocco. Professor Gertel from the Institute of Geography, who conducts research on food security and youth in the Arab world, underlined the importance of the project: “This initiative is very welcome for two reasons: on the one hand, it will strengthen our expertise on the Maghreb. Although we have been involved in the developments in the Mediterranean region for a very long time, we in Germany know very little about the everyday situations, problems, initiatives and wishes of the Mediterranean countries. There is an urgent need for research here. On the other hand, the project is designed from the outset to be mutual and long-term. It is not a case of we in Germany thinking one-sidedly about our neighbours, but of working together to develop the research axes, fields of knowledge, and phenomena that affect us all – albeit in different ways.” So it is of central importance that this is a long-term project.
The Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM) is the fifth such Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences funded by the BMBF. Merian Centres have already been established in New Delhi, India; Guadalajara, Mexico; São Paulo, Brazil; and Accra, Ghana.