Seminarios del IPP: "Sexual and reproductive rights in Tunisia after the revolution of 2011: the paradoxical effects of democratization"

CANCELADO

Por Irene Maffi (Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne).

Lugar: Sala María Zambrano 0C9 y a través de Zoom (enlace) ID de reunión: 817 2049 4795 - Código de acceso: 888220

Organiza: Francisco Herreros (IPP-CSIC)

Abstract: Following the revolution of 2011, Tunisia has witnessed a process of democratization, which has affected many areas of social life. New spaces of expression and action have emerged not only in the political arena but also in ordinary social life. The mushrooming of local NGOs operating in the domains of education, work, rights of the victims of Ben Ali’s repression, regional disparities, rights of minorities, women’s rights, etc. bear witness of a period of extraordinary effervescence. In the post-revolutionary period, women’s status and rights, including sexual and reproductive rights, were quickly made an object of contention in the public debate. In my talk, I intend to investigate how and why women’s sexual and reproductive rights are a significant vantage point from which to examine the social and political transformations brought about by the revolution or on the contrary the perpetuation of old moral and social norms. I argue that democratization has paradoxically caused a limitation of the sexual and reproductive rights women enjoyed during Ben Ali’s rule.

Irene Maffi is Professor of social anthropology at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne. She a s specialist of the Arab world. She has conducted research in two main domains: political anthropology and anthropology of reproduction. Her latest works focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights and the transformation of the family in Tunisia after the revolution of 2011. Her most recent publications are:
- 2021 Governing reproduction in post-revolutionary Tunisia: contraception, abortion and infertility. Medical Anthropology   
- 2021 with Caroline Chautems, Mères et pères face à l'allaitement: savoirs experts et rapports de genre à domicile et à l'hôpital. Nouvelles Questions féministes 40 (1).
- 2020 Abortion in Post-revolutionary Tunisia. Politics, Medicine and Morality, Berghahn Books https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/MaffiAbortion