Roslind Varghese Brown. . New York, London, Sydney: Marshall Cavendish, 1998. 128 pp. $35.64, cloth, ISBN 978-0-7614-0690-7.

Reviewed by Leland Barrows

Published on H-AfrTeach (April, 1999)

Upon frst leafng through this generously il‐ "Food." It also includes a "Map of Tunisia," a page lustrated introduction to Tunisia, a recent addi‐ of "Quick Notes" on Tunisia, a one-page "Glossary" tion to the Cultures of the World series of the Mar‐ of terms, a "Bibliography" listing only six entries, shall Cavendish imprint of Times Books Interna‐ and fnally, an "Index." A fairly straightforward tional, an adult reader cannot help but think of expository text is amply supplemented by ffteen the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vin‐ text boxes and 114 illustrations of various sizes cent Peale. The tone is the same. Or perhaps a bet‐ (including one on the cover and another on the ti‐ ter if more derogatory point of comparison would tle page), most of them in colour. be that of the "TVB"--tout va bien (all is going The text boxes are a mixed lot that amplify well)--summing-up by worldly-wise readers of the points raised in the text. One of these (p. 47) traces news as reported by El Moudjahid, the FLN party legal evolution in Tunisia from sharia and rab‐ newspaper in ; the point being that Algeria binical courts to the 1957 Code of Personal Status. aside, even Tunisia has problems at which this Another (p. 53) briefy describes how the book only hints. Of course, it is intended for ju‐ agro-industry took of in the early years of this nior high school students in the in century. the hope that it will open their minds to foreign A striking black-and-white photograph (on p. countries and cultures. Possibly a "TVB" approach 37) portrays a very small, strange looking French is what is best for that age group, even though this naval vessel, a steam aviso, hardly larger than a reviewer has some doubts. small yacht, moored in the French naval base at The 128 pages of this book include chapters in the early years of the French Protec‐ on "Geography," "History, "Government," and the torate. The picture would suggest that French "Economy"; on the , specifcally naval power at the time was insignifcant or that their "Lifestyle," "Religion," and "Language"; and Bizerte never counted as much for the French, as on the "Arts," "Leisure" activities, "Festivals," and did Mers-el-Kebir in Algeria or Toulon in , H-Net Reviews as major bases for their Navy. Or does this illus‐ author confuses Khair al din, an initiator of direct tration represent author Roslind Varghese Ottoman rule in the , known as Bar‐ Brown's attempt at an anti-colonial joke? Other barossa to the Europeans of the early sixteenth than the works listed in the "Bibliography," no century, with the twelfth century Hohenstaufen photography or illustration credits are listed at German Emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa all, an unfortunate omission. It would be useful to (1152-1190), who began the style, "Holy Roman know the source(s) of the illustrations, or is the Empire." The author's descriptions of the circum‐ reader to assume that they have all been derived stances under which Tunisia became a French from Tunisia in Pictures (Minneapolis: Lerner protectorate between 1881 and 1883 are overly Publications Company, 1992), one of six items list‐ brief, and she confuses the results of the Congress ed in the "Bibliography." of 1878 that concluded the Russo-Turkish War of Being a historian, this reviewer was drawn to 1877-1878 with the Berlin Conference on African the eighteen or so pages devoted to Tunisian his‐ Afairs (November 1884-February 1885), the lat‐ tory that gallop from pre-history to the forced re‐ ter, not the former, being popularly perceived as tirement of President Bourguiba in 1987 the Conference by which "the European powers and his replacement by former Minister of the In‐ divided Africa among themselves" (p. 36). True, terior and Prime Minister, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the earlier Conference did facilitate eventual the current Head of State. The Phoenician estab‐ French entry into Tunisia as a kind of quid pro lishment of is of course described as quo for the British leasing of Cyprus from the Ot‐ well as the three Punic wars. Although one small toman Empire, and Tunisia did come under illustration (p. 24) portrays Hannibal's crossing of French rule before the second Berlin Conference the Rhone River with elephants, the author misses was held. a chance to comment about a more recently The author chronicles the major steps to‐ claimed truism that only Indian elephants can be wards the regained independence of Tunisia on domesticated, not African ones of the sort used by 20 March 1956 (through revocation of the Marsa Hannibal's armies. Although Brown credits an un‐ Convention of 1883 and the Bardo Treaty of 1881) named Roman general with the recapturing of Ca‐ under the leadership of (then) Prime Minister pua, in , from Hannibal's forces in 211 BC, she Habib Bourguiba and his Neo- Party. says nothing about the earlier battle of Canae in Again, however, she is a bit doubtful about her 216 BC, considered to have been, from a tactical facts, for on an earlier page (p. 23) she states that point of view, one of the most innovative battles "Tunisia became a self-governing country on July in history. Hannibal virtually annihilated the Ro‐ 25, 1957." It was on the latter date that Bourguiba man army (even if the Romans eventually won deposed the last Bey of , ending the Hus‐ the war). seinid Dynasty, and had himself proclaimed Presi‐ Brown devotes short paragraphs to other dent of Tunisia. epochs in Tunisian history: Roman rule, the Van‐ Fortunately, there is more to this book than dals, the Byzantine reconquest, and successive history. There is a good deal of accurate contem‐ Muslim dynasties following the initial Arab con‐ porary description, for instance, that of the care‐ quest in 670 by Uqba ibn Naf--Umayyads, Ab‐ ful tightrope walk in which the government must basids, Aghlabids, Fatimids, Zirids, Almohads, engage as it arbitrates between the need and the Hafsids, conquest and rule by the Ottoman Em‐ national policy to modernize and the demands of pire after 1574, and fnally, the Mamluk Husseinid Islamic traditionalists. It also presents the high Dynasty in 1705 that lasted until 1957. Here the points of the language policy of independent

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Tunisia (French versus , and within Arabic, The strength of this book is clearly its illustra‐ classical Arabic versus literary Arabic versus di‐ tions, yet even here one would have liked Brown alectical Arabic). The chapter on religion in to help relatively young and unsophisticated read‐ Tunisia, particularly on the fundamentals of Is‐ ers read behind the gloss. A picture on page 67 lam, as well as those dealing with the arts, leisure shows an outdoor cafe the customers of which are time activities, and festivals are particularly good exclusively young males. She could have ex‐ even if they suggest inspiration by the Office Na‐ plained that there was a time that ended in the tional du Tourisme Tunisien (ONTT). early 1980s when numbers of young women The author could have said and portrayed a could be found, unaccompanied, sitting in the little more under the rubric of transportation cafes of Tunis. This feminine presence was strik‐ than she did. Although she mentions the existence ing, particularly to visitors from neighbouring Al‐ of a railway network 2,250 kilometers long serv‐ geria. Now the scene is much as it is portrayed in ing two-thirds of Tunisia, she fails to provide any this illustration, and commentators speak, in the pictures of trains, and yet some of the Tunisian case of the cafes of Tunis, of how Tunisian women train sets, particularly those operating between have lost the battle of the cafes. This lost battle is Tunis and , are impressively modern. She the direct result of the rural exodus that has flled should also have indicated the railway lines and Tunis and other Tunisian cities with poor and rel‐ the principal roads on the map of Tunisia that she atively unwesternized (unfrenchifed) persons provides on page 122. Also, good photographs of among whom traditional views of the role and the Central Station in downtown Tunis and of the place of women in a Muslim society prevail. Given main terminal of El Aouina Airport outside Tunis that Tunisia has had a strong state-supported would have been of value. birth control program^H^Hme since 1964 and that abortion has been legalized (facts that are ac‐ The chapter on Tunisian cooking is very in‐ knowledged on pp. 47 and 76), Brown should formative and in a way courageous for citing a have included a photograph of the front facade of traditional dish, Maarcassini, made from wild a birth control clinic in a large town showing the boar, forbidden to Muslims (but eaten discreetly name and purpose of the establishment in large by members of the Tunisian elite and by visitors letters, in Arabic and in French, over the front from Europe and North America). The author pro‐ door. vides a text box (p. 121) giving a detailed recipe for Harrissa, spicy tomato paste that is used as a Another illustration that could have benefted condiment in many North African dishes. Given from more careful explanation is that of the so- that this substance is available commercially called Bourguiba family in Monastir throughout Europe and North America (the best (p. 48). The building is obviously beautiful, very known brand, Harrissa du Cap Bon, being sold in expensive, and constructed in a neo-Moorish tubes like tooth paste), it would have been more style; however, contrary to what the caption says, useful if Brown had given a recipe for something former President, Habib Bourguiba, is not yet en‐ that cannot be bought ready made, like chorba tombed in it. He is alive but not in the best of (soup of various kinds), odja (eggs scrambled with health. The author might have pointed out, how‐ onions, peppers, tomatoes, and slices of merguez ever, that Bourguiba (originally Habib Abu sausages), couscous, or tadjine (a pastry made Ruqayba) came from a very poor family that with chopped meat and eggs), the ingredients for could certainly not have aforded a family mau‐ which are easily available in Europe and in North soleum. The building portrayed came much later, America. a "gift" of the Tunisian state.

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Finally, a rather peculiar photograph (on p. ful, introduction to Tunisia, suitable for American 79) of a newly wed Tunisian couple includes in it middle or junior high school students for whom a boy of around seven with the explanation that the factual errors indicated above will not be that he is a "family member." Although the child may important. One hopes that the intended readers be the brother of the bridegroom or the bride or will look at the pictures, skim the text, and read even the son of one of them by a previous mar‐ other, more substantive, books about Tunisia. riage, the photograph suggests a very late shotgun Copyright (c) 1999 by H-Net, all rights re‐ marriage. served. This work may be copied for non-proft As with any American book of this type, the educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ author cannot avoid being more-or-less politically thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ correct. The term gender is used in one spot tact [email protected]. where sex would have been more appropriate; craftsmen are systematically called craftspeople, and the author elicits some embarrassment at use of the term Berber, for fear that it might have a pejorative origin (p. 65). Likewise she informs the reader that Africans in Tunisia (a founding mem‐ ber of the Organization for African Unity) consti‐ tute a "minority group," a statement that would surprise the majority population of Berbers-more- or-less-Arabized who think of themselves as Africans, specifcally North Africans, or as Maghrebins, and who know that their Berber an‐ cestors were the original human inhabitants of North Africa. Because the author prefers not to designate the minority group in question as "Black" or as "Negro" Africans, that indeed they are, she ends up implying that the vast majority of the population of Tunisia is non-African. Finally, a beautiful view of the in Tunis includes the explanation that it was recent‐ ly renamed Avenue 7 Novembre to commemorate Bourguiba's ouster. The caption should also have mentioned that the avenue in question was origi‐ nally named Avenue Jules Ferry after the French Prime Minister who imposed French protectorate status on Tunisia. After all, Brown does concede that the part of Tunis in which this Avenue is lo‐ cated was built by the French on land reclaimed from the sea during the protectorate period. What can one really say about this book? Cer‐ tainly it fulflls the parameters of the series of which it is a part. It gives a superfcial, if colour‐

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Citation: Leland Barrows. Review of Brown, Roslind Varghese. Tunisia. H-AfrTeach, H-Net Reviews. April, 1999.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=2959

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