German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

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Merian Center for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM): Imagining Futures - Dealing with Disparity, Phase II

  • The Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM) based in Tunis is the first and only Institute for Advanced Studies in North Africa. MECAM’s ambition is to become an intellectual hub that contributes to the emergence of cutting-edge, internationally relevant and visible research in the humanities and social sciences on, from and in the Maghreb and in particular with scholars from the Maghreb. The GIGA coordinates MECAM's publications as well as outreach and transfer activities.
    BMBF, 2023-2029

    Cooperation Partners

    Head

    Dr. André Bank

    Senior Research Fellow

    Prof. Dr. Thomas Richter

    Lead Research Fellow / Head of Research Programme "Accountability and Participation"

    Coordinator

    Dr. Maria Josua

    Research Fellow / Research Team Spokesperson

    Dr. Steffen Wippel

    Associate

    Dr. Clara-Auguste Süß

    Research Fellow / MECAM Outreach & Transfer Manager

    Research Questions

    MECAM’s research activities are organized in five interdisciplinary Research Fields (IRF):
    1) Aesthetics & Cultural Practice addresses questions of how aesthetic forms and cultural practices influence the process by which models and imaginations of the future are expressed and (re-)negotiated. It also investigates the ways in which disparities, political and societal transformations influence aesthetic and cultural practices.
    2) Inequality & Mobility focuses on social and economic inequalities, the resulting sense of insecurity, and their role in the (re-)negotiation of visions and models of the future. The IRF specifically explores how distinct forms of disparity (incl. concrete policy decisions) drive or restrain mobility and how in turn, mobility can exacerbate or mitigate inequality.
    3) Memory & Justice discusses legacies of the past, including their legal, political and cultural perceptions and frames in relation to different assessments of the present and to models and (re-)negotiations of the future. Research will shed light on the ways in which differential access to political power shapes questions of accountability, factfinding, amnesty, judicial reforms, human rights claims and the legitimate sources of law in post-conflict societies and beyond.
    4) Resources & Sustainability investigates how societies in general and political decisionmakers in particular deal with burgeoning socio-economic disparities and growing environmental problems. This IRF studies which economic models might ensure a politically, socially and ecologically sustainable future. Especially rentier and extractivist economic models in the Maghreb are explicitly addressed here as these models generate particular forms of disparities and thus also interesting visions of the future.
    5) Identities & Beliefs examines co-existing, sometimes competing identities and belief systems which are partly impacted by political power dynamics. Disparities are felt, perceived and articulated very differently from the vantage point of diverse identities and beliefs, resulting in pluralistic ways of (re-) negotiating imaginations and models of the future.

    MECAM’s five IRFs are complemented by three areas of methodological exploration cutting across research fields. The first area in this regard is devoted to considerations of gender, diversity, epistemologies, translations and research ethics. The second area are historical and comparative perspectives. The third area is digital research methods which are increasingly seen as drivers of scholarly innovation but which also contribute to deepening disparities in global knowledge production due to the differences in access between the Global North and the Global South.

    Contribution to International Research

    As a Centre for Advanced Study in the Maghreb, MECAM will promote academic cooperation between researchers from different regional contexts in the Maghreb, the Mashreq, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Germany, Europe, i.e. the Global South and the Global North more broadly. With that, the Centre aims to downsize some of the persistent asymmetries in knowledge production, such as the dominance of the European and North American research traditions. By providing conditions for scholarly exchange in non-hierarchical and collaborative ways in the spirit of “research with the region” rather than merely “on the region” MECAM will contribute to increased visibility of studying Maghrebi affairs in general and of topics falling within the range of MECAM’s research fields in particular. Scholarly exchange will be additionally facilitated through collaborations with two network sites in Lebanon and Morocco. While interregionalism will be reflected in the composition of the Centre’s fellow groups and its governing bodies, MECAM’s systematic plurilingualism (Arabic, English, and French) will ease intellectual exchange, strengthen the dissemination of research results, and open up new promising research avenues.

    Research Design and Methods

    MECAM will constitute a physical and discursive scholarly space in which different disciplines, methodological approaches, theoretical concepts, academic traditions, and individual experiences are shared and can eventually enter into a polylogue both within and beyond the Maghreb. The Centre aims to provide the best possible conditions for successful research collaborations in the humanities and social sciences by providing a unique platform for international scholarly exchange. It is thereby committed to establishing a coherent procedure for ethics clearance and guidelines ensuring a safe and inclusive working environment considering the specific challenges arising from a postcolonial setting.

    Preliminary Findings

    MECAM’s form of international scientific cooperation will contribute to rethinking both traditional Area Studies approaches and mono-disciplinary perspectives in that it continues to foster interdisciplinary, inter-regional and inter-generational formats and activities. It is hoped that MECAM will also contribute to reducing the asymmetries in knowledge production between Germany and Tunisia, between the Maghreb and the Mashreq, the south and north of the Mediterranean specifically, and the so-called Global North and Global South more generally. In the mid- to long-term, it is MECAM’s objective to become an integral part of the Tunisian and Maghrebi intellectual landscape. Beyond fostering excellent scholarly exchange and innovation, it is MECAM’s objective in the main phase to further shape and impact broader societal discussions both in Tunisia and the Maghreb as well as in Germany, Europe and the Middle East.

    Project Publications

    MECAM Papers English | 02/2025

    The Effects of Imitative Capitalism on Integrating Women and Youth in Maghreb Labour Markets

    Thirty years on from their initiation, neoliberal policies have weakened Maghreb countries’ labour markets, leading to unanticipated forms of employment and deteriorating working conditions. These countries need to re-evaluate and revamp labour market reforms with ones that correspond better with their status quo and encompass an understanding of the local economic, political, and social structures to enable a sustainable, comprehensive, and fair integration of women and youth into the labour markets.

    Dina Zabaneh

    Philipps-Universität Marburg

    MECAM Papers English | 01/2025

    LGBT Rights and Freedom of Conscience in Tunisia, between Islamic Norms and Individual Rights

    The current climate of autocratic tendencies and conservative populism raises concerns about the future of human rights in Tunisia. The new Constitution, emphasising the “objectives of Islam,” could further see religion impact the law and jeopardise the rights of vulnerable groups. A secular framework is crucial for guaranteeing freedom of conscience and protecting individuals from discrimination.

    Dr. Tommaso Virgili

    Berlin Social Science Center

    GIGA Focus Middle East | 2/2025

    Ten Things to Watch in the Middle East and North Africa in 2025

    From the Gaza War and ethnic conflicts in Lebanon and Syria to the significance of a second Trump administration for the region, the MENA remains of central importance for Europe. We present ten topics that will play a prominent role in relations between the two regions in the year ahead.

    Diba Mirzaei

    Doctoral Researcher

    Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz

    Director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies / Editor GIGA Focus Middle East

    MECAM Papers English | 01/2025

    Female Agency and Colonial Repression: Memory and Archives in Tunisia

    Laying the foundations for deciphering colonialism’s contemporary inertia, with its mechanisms continuing to broadly structure relations with the region, is key. European colonialism traumatically shaped both local societies and the categories typically used for their study. Deconstructing the latter and the dominant narratives inherited from colonialism in rejecting their uncritical use is vital for the present.

    PD Dr. Nora Lafi

    Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient

    MECAM Papers English | 12/2024

    Clientelism and Predation in Algeria: Public versus Private Sector

    Economic theory defines the difference between the private and the public sector in terms of the legal ownership of capital. In other words, the public sector’s means of production are owned by the community through the state while those of the private sector are in the hands of entrepreneurs, who are members of civil society. This distinction between the categories of “public” and “private,” inspired by Western experience, appears insufficient to account for the reality of most countries whose state-building processes have followed paths different from those experienced in the Western world.

    Dr. Mourad Ouchichi

    Abderrahmane-Mira University of Béjaïa

    Related Content

    Screening of the Short Film “Bord à Bord”, followed by Discussion with its Director / MECAM Rencontre Ibn Khaldun

    German Institute for Global and Area Studies | 12/02/2025

    Screening of the Short Film “Bord à Bord”, followed by Discussion with its Director / MECAM Rencontre Ibn Khaldun

    Organiser: German Institute for Global and Area Studies Dr. Clara-Auguste Süß (Organiser), Ph.D. Sanabel Abdelrahman (Panelist)

    This MECAM Rencontre Ibn Khaldun presented the short film “Bord à Bord”. The screening was followed by a discussion with the film's director, Sahar El Echi, along with Ibtissem Labidi from Synergy Productions, and MECAM Fellows Cyrine Kortas and Sanabel Abdelrahman.

    Dr. Clara-Auguste Süß

    Research Fellow / MECAM Outreach & Transfer Manager

    Ph.D. Sanabel Abdelrahman

    Merian Center for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb

    MECAM Policy Talk 2024: Solar, Hydrogen, Wind: German-Maghreb Partnership and the European Green Deal

    German Institute for Global and Area Studies | 27/11/2024 - 29/11/2024

    MECAM Policy Talk 2024: Solar, Hydrogen, Wind: German-Maghreb Partnership and the European Green Deal

    Organiser: German Institute for Global and Area Studies Dr. Clara-Auguste Süß (Organiser), Dr. Isabelle Werenfels (Moderator), Dr. Mohamed Ismail Sabry (Panelist), Sabrine Emran (Panelist), Hichem Mansour (Panelist)

    The Policy Talk was realized as a lunchtime discussion on the topic “Solar, Hydrogen, Wind: German-Maghreb Partnership and the European Green Deal” at the Deutsche Parlamentarische Gesellschaft in Berlin.

    Dr. Clara-Auguste Süß

    Dr. Isabelle Werenfels

    Dr. Mohamed Ismail Sabry

    Sabrine Emran

    Hichem Mansour

    Arabic Studies in Germany in the Twenty-First Century: Projects, Curricula and Challenges / MECAM Rencontre Ibn Khaldun

    German Institute for Global and Area Studies | 19/11/2024

    Arabic Studies in Germany in the Twenty-First Century: Projects, Curricula and Challenges / MECAM Rencontre Ibn Khaldun

    Organiser: German Institute for Global and Area Studies Dr. Clara-Auguste Süß (Organiser), Dr. Christian Junge (Panelist), Ph.D. Sanabel Abdelrahman (Moderator)

    In the context of the shift from Orientalism to Arabism, Dr. Christian Junge’s lecture examines the evolution of Arabic studies in Germany in the 21st century, highlighting key projects, methodologies, and challenges. The event also showcases a German-language textbook on Arabic studies.

    Dr. Clara-Auguste Süß

    Dr. Christian Junge

    Ph.D. Sanabel Abdelrahman

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