Vulnerabilities, Racism, and Political Subjectivities in Tunisia: The Ethnographic Case of Migrants from West Africa & Race, Femininity and the Nation-State in Tunisia (In French)
As part of the Critical Approaches to Race Seminar Series, we are pleased to welcome Khaoula Matri and Yasmine Akrimi, whose research explores racialization, migration, and the intersections of gender and politics in Tunisia.
In this insightful talk, Khaoula Matri will examine the paradoxes of European border externalization, often framed through readmission agreements and deportation policies targeting irregular migrants. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Tunisia between 2023 and 2024, she will explore how these border regimes shape the lives and bodies of migrants, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa. Her discussion will highlight how migration governance impacts political subjectivities and exacerbates racial inequalities, while interrogating the role of the "migration crisis" discourse in reinforcing racialized hierarchies and social marginalization.
Yasmine Akrimi will discuss the cultural dimensions of race in postcolonial Tunisia, moving beyond structural analyses of racism to examine how racial metaphors contribute to the country’s modernity. Using the concept of chromatisme (Ergin, 2008; 2016), she will explore how Tunisia’s historical and social contexts have shaped racial aesthetics and norms, particularly in relation to whiteness as both a physical and ideological construct. Through an ethnographic and digital analysis, she will highlight how Black Tunisian women face particular marginalization and argue for the necessity of situating Tunisia within a global framework of white supremacy and neoliberal hegemony.
This event will be held in French.
About the Speakers
Khaoula Matri specializes in gender, migration, and racialization in North Africa. Her research addresses topics such as violence against women, women’s status in Tunisia, the politics of the body, veiling, sexuality, and social norms. She also co-leads methodology workshops in social sciences and the seminar “Women Researchers and Feminists: Engagement(s) and Scientific Production.” She is the lead researcher of the project Vulnerabilities, Racism, and Political Subjectivities in Tunisia: The Ethnographic Case of West African Migrants.
Yasmine Akrimi is a PhD candidate in political science at Ghent University and a decolonial activist. She is also a research analyst at the Brussels International Center and a regular contributor to various media outlets and research institutes across Europe and North Africa. Her work examines race, whiteness, and nationhood in Tunisia, with a focus on the construction of Black Tunisian identity. She is the author of “Racisme, blanchité et État-nation: la construction de l’altérité des Noirs tunisiens” (Confluences Méditerranée, 2023).
If you want to join this seminar, please send us an email at birmm@vub.be