TUNISIA, 1940-1970: THE SPATIAL POLITICS OF RECONSTRUCTION, DECOLONIZATION, AND DEVELOPMENT Nancy Nabeel Aly Demerdash A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY RECOMMENDED FOR ACCEPTANCE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ART & ARCHAEOLOGY Adviser: Esther da Costa Meyer, Ph.D. November 2015 © Copyright by Nancy Nabeel Aly Demerdash, 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. i ABSTRACT This dissertation investigates the dialectical discourses of modernism and the vernacular in Tunisian architectural and urban projects, from the late French protectorate into the period of independence, 1940-1970. With a particular focus on issues of habitation and heritage, this project tracks the reorganization of social space in the reconstruction efforts of the postwar French colonial administration and the architectural and patrimonial discourses of the Tunisian nation-state that came into existence in 1956. In an era that witnessed mass-scale land expropriations, rural-urban migrations, and popular anti-colonial sentiment, this project traces the material effects of Tunisians’ displacements and urban adaptations to their rapidly changing socio-political condition. Underscoring the dialectics intrinsic to the postwar notion of development, namely, tensions between formal and informal settlements, vernacular building traditions and prefabrication methods, and patrimonial preservation and erasure, this dissertation explores the ideological negotiations of architectural progress in the longue durée of decolonization. Throughout this tumultuous period, social housing projects sprouted in parallel with the spread of gourbivilles (earthen dwellings) and bidonvilles (‘tin can’ towns) on the outskirts of Tunisia’s urban centers. Both colonial and postcolonial institutional and state-led reckonings with vernacular architecture forwarded not only modernist building agendas, but promoted primitivizing mythologies of local construction techniques, rooted in racist attitudes towards the purportedly backward indigène. Challenging the predominant historiographical narrative that presents the independence of 1956 as a stark political rupture, this dissertation instead demonstrates that the vestiges of urban and preservationist policy schemes remained ingrained, on an institutional level, from protectorate rule. How the spatial and political processes of ii decolonization, nation-building, and development intersect with the ethics and economics of habitation undergirds this project. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the support of many individuals and institutions, the completion of this dissertation would have been impossible. First and foremost, I must thank my dissertation adviser and mentor, Esther da Costa Meyer, for putting her faith and confidence in me at the outset of my studies here at Princeton. Only with her support, warmth, unwavering ethics, and intellectual guidance that she has administered along the way, would I have been able to see this project to fruition. M’hamed Oualdi has played an absolutely critical role in the later stages of this project’s growth and his expertise, encouragement and keen insights I deeply appreciate. Chika Okeke-Agulu has been equally as instrumental in pushing me to think through issues pertaining to African modernisms, and his scholarship, now and always, serves as a true model and source of inspiration for me. Without the critical input of Hannah Feldman, my work would have suffered, and I am supremely thankful for her involvement in this project. Elizabeth Anne McCauley has been supportive of me professionally and I treasure her humor and genuine goodwill. My undergraduate mentor, Charles Hallisey, has been a rock to me for the last decade. Together, their generosity of spirit knows no bounds and it is their deep humanism and pursuit to understand the pleasures and paradoxes of beauty that I will continue to carry with me. Their intellectual passion will always be a powerful touchstone to me. A number of institutions have propelled this project forward, and I am grateful for their funding and general support of my project: the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University; the Forum Transregionale Studien in Berlin; the Donald and Mary Hyde Academic Year Research Fellowship and the Yan Huo ’94 Graduate Fellowship, Princeton University; the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies; the Princeton-Mellon Initiative for Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities; and the National Endowment for the Humanities. iv Over the years, I have benefited greatly from interdisciplinary conversations, camaraderie and insightful critiques of colleagues at a number of invited workshops, symposia, and conferences globally. A few events proved especially crucial in the constant reformulations of my project, and I am grateful to those who extended their invitation: the workshop “Before the Contemporary: Arts, Institutions, Revolutions” held at Northwestern University; the Middle East Studies Association panel on “Maghrebi Visual Culture and the Politics of Memory”; the “Orient und Moderne” Conference held at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz; the panel on “Restructuring the Fields: the ‘Modern’ in ‘Islamic’ and ‘Islamic’ in ‘Modern’ Art and Architecture” at the College Art Association Meeting; finally, the “Future of the Mediterranean” Conference, held at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. I also gained critiques and directives from presenting ideas at the Annual Conference of the Association for Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World, Turkey, and Iran (AMCA), the European Architectural Beyond Europe Annual Workshop, and the Annual Conference of the Middle East Studies Association. It takes an endless network of people to conduct archival research and field work of any sort. At Princeton, in the Department of Art & Archaeology, Susan Lehre and Diane Schulte have been kind and knowledgeable in administratively steering me in the right direction, from the very beginning. At the Marquand Library of Art & Archaeology, Rebecca Friedman has been extremely generous in helping me track down important sources. While living in Paris, Erin Duncan-O’Neill—my roommate, dear friend and so much more—was my co-pilot in navigating the city’s riches, French bureaucracy and administrative nuances of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art. Without question, it is because of her zealous energy, inquiring mind, and loyal friendship that our year together in the quaint and cozy Rue Gabrielle apartment in Montmartre was perhaps the v happiest of my life. At the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, I am thankful for the help of Mr. Alexandre Ragois, who coordinated my many visits, and at the Centre des Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes, Anne-Sophie Cras made my arrangements. In Tunisia, I was profoundly grateful for the tips and welcoming hospitality of Joel Rozen, who put me in touch with Daniel Coslett and Caroline Boules. Collectively, their sustained knowledge of Tunis’ treasures and quirks proved tremendously helpful in my explorations of the city and in trips to the Centre de Documentation Nationale de Tunisie and Bibliothèque Nationale de Tunisie. At the Archives Nationales de Tunisie, I am fortunate for the help of Mr. Abdulaziz, who tracked down numerous pamphlets and useful material on housing in Tunisia. And finally at the ETH-Zürich Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architecktur, Filine Wagner helped me greatly in accessing the files of CIAM. Iterations of this dissertation were presented to multiple audiences, but a few individuals’ feedback stand out and I would like to highlight their contributions: Mercedes Volait; Johan Lagae; Nada Shabout; Jessica Gerschultz; Sarah-Neel Smith; Katherine Bussard; Aaron Shkuda; Mira Schwerda; Anita Husen; Alex Seggerman; Esra Akcan; Mary Roberts; Roger Benjamin; Christian Hedrick; Mohammad AlKhabbaz; Sarah Katz; Patricia Goldsworthy-Smith; Anna Cavness; David Prochaska; Mary Vogel; Cynthia Becker; Joseph Krause; Nabil Boudraa; James Le Sueur; Mark DeLancey; Nevine El-Nossery; Mary Anne Lewis; Rima Abunasser; Katarzyna Pieprzak; Jessica Winegar; Anneka Lennsen; Nadia Radwan; Joseph Farag; Nora Parr; Pamela Karimi; Mohamed Gharipour; Patricia Blessing; Georges Khalil; Michael Allan; Emily Drumsta. As for my kinships in the Department of Art & Archaeology—Megan Goldman-Petri, Jonathan Fine, Miri Kim, Peter Fox, Haneen Rabie, Jacqueline Sturm, Sabrina Carletti, Ellen MacFarlane, Adedoyin Teriba, Sria Chatterjee, Amanda Bock, Alexis Cohen, Alan Doyle, Mirka vi Fette-Døj, John Landsdowne, Elizabeth Petcu, Emily Spratt, and Jennifer Morris—it is their collaborative and supportive energy, filled with laughter, frustration, and tears, that got me through the trials of graduate school. From peers in other departments I gained so much fortitude as well, namely Cynthia Houng, Edna Bonhomme, Jill Jarvis, Matthew Schumann, Peter Kitlas, and Brahim El Guabli. It has been a tumultuous journey for all of us. And to my circle of lifelong girlfriends who keep me sane, humble and grounded—Petra Duecker, Luisa Zizzo, Kristin Aasen, Nettie Spitz, Aycha Sirvanci, Shannon O’Halloran, Elissa Hobert, Melisa Shiroda, and Christine Bednarz. For Nadhra Khan, who in my last year at Princeton, not only nourished my body and soul with walks on campus and her exquisite, home-cooked Pakistani delicacies, but who, with her seemingly infinite maternal kindness, also lifted me up at some dark and demoralized moments.