Bastardy and Irreverence: The Injuries of Kinship in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia

  • Charis Boutieri*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Dismissing generic and instrumentalized portrayals of angry Arab youth in regional and international discourse, this article interrogates ethnographically the agonistic dimensions of generational relations in post-revolutionary Tunisia. It draws on encounters between older and younger left militants and explores the tropes and tone of young militant narratives in order to demonstrate that the revolution opened up a space for the drastic renegotiation of patriarchy in both generational and gendered terms. The article connects with earlier anthropological work on generational irreverence across the Maghrib and revisits its insights into the mutual constitution of kinship and politics through testing such insights within the affordances of a post-revolutionary space. It argues that bastardy and irreverence become the position and attitude that allow young Tunisian militants to separate themselves from the patriarchal myths of personal and national alliance. Their assault on perceptions of Tunisian social reality provides a corrective to ritualistic depictions of revolution in the region and beyond.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)131-149
Number of pages19
JournalHesperis-Tamuda
Volume55
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Keywords

  • Bastardy
  • Gender
  • Genealogy
  • Generation
  • Intimacy
  • Irreverence
  • Kinship
  • Revolution

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