Educational Transitions in Post-Revolutionary Spaces: Islam, Security, and Social Movements in Tunisia

Episode 69: Educational Transitions in Post-Revolutionary Spaces: Islam, Security, and Social Movements in Tunisia

In this podcast, Dr. Tavis D. Jules is interviewed on his recent book, Educational Transitions in Post-Revolutionary Spaces : Islam, Security and Social Movements in Tunisia, co-authored with Dr. Teresa Barton. Jules and Barton trace the development of Tunisia’s educational system to the 2010/2011 contestatory events that led to the Tunisian Revolution and embarked on a period of large-scale institutional reform, including education sector reform. This post-Revolutionary reform has primarily been concerned with providing young Tunisian citizens with the necessary skills for a rapidly changing job market.  In his presentation, Jules engages with the issue of how a strong educational system produced generations of educated citizens, but whose most recent generation is frustrated by a weakened socio-economic system unable to absorb a young and educated workforce.  The book itself traces the history and evolution of Tunisia’s educational system since independence in 1956 to the contemporary period,  and ties its analysis to an « educational transitologies framework ». Through several chapters, the book engages and explores themes related to education, including security, gender, political Islam and social movements and analyses these comparatively pre- and post-political transition which commenced in 2011. 

In this podcast, Dr. Jules was invited to answer a number of questions touching upon the following themes : 

• Definition of the concept of conscientization and its importance to understand the role of education.
• The common link that the book draws between education and Islam, security and social movements. 
• The book’s methodology to study 'educational transitologies' and what the example of Tunisia tells us about this theoretical framework. 

Dr. Tavis D. Jules is Associate Professor in Cultural and Educational Policy at Loyola University, specializing in Comparative and International Education. His research interests include, regionalism and governance, transitory spaces, and policy challenges in small island developing states (SIDS).

CEMAT Assistant Director Dr. Meriem Guetat, CEMAT led the interview, which was recorded as part of the Contemporary Thought series on December 13th, 2018 at the Centre d'Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT).

Posted by Hayet Lansari, Librarian, Outreach Coordinator, Content Curator (CEMA).