HomeKinship, Neighborhoods and Communities in The Maghreb: Or How to Rethink the Bond between the Local and the Global?
Published on Monday, December 05, 2022
Abstract
Nowadays, it seems somewhat anachronistic to speak of bonds of kinship or neighborly relationships, networks of solidarity, mutual aid and support that they can entail in a (post)modernity that is increasingly characterized by the shift and transfer of the social and economic functions once attributed to the family, to public authorities. While matters of belonging and identities seem to be increasingly affected by quite virtual and proximate factors whereby spheres would be considered as being increasingly more seamless and permeable. Nonetheless, recent socio-anthropological studies have perversely revealed that patterns of kinship, family bonds, community or neighborhood ties seem to remain a remarkably significant part of the lived experiences of humans, albeit continuing to control the relationships among people and between people and their environment. The main goal of this symposium is to raise questions about the relevance of kinship, neighborhood and community as a source of meaning, identity and socio-economic solidarity.
Announcement
International conference: Kinship, Neighborhoods and Communities in The Maghreb: Or How to Rethink the Bond between the Local and the Global?
May 4-5, 2023.
Argument
Nowadays, it seems somewhat anachronistic to speak of bonds of kinship or neighborly relationships, networks of solidarity, mutual aid and support that they can entail in a (post)modernity that is increasingly characterized by the shift and transfer of the social and economic functions once attributed to the family, to public authorities. While matters of belonging and identities seem to be increasingly affected by quite virtual and proximate factors whereby spheres would be considered as being increasingly more seamless and permeable.
Nonetheless, recent socio-anthropological studies have perversely revealed that patterns of kinship, family bonds, community or neighborhood ties seem to remain a remarkably significant part of the lived experiences of humans, albeit continuing to control the relationships among people and between people and their environment. Such an observation is quite evidenced by the impetus and the renewed global interest in the quality and intensity of local and primary social relations which have received far more attention as a vehicle of social integration and democratized economic development.
Therefore, apprehending to what extent family, kin connections, village and urban networks contribute to the enhancement of socio-economic solidarities and the construction of identities despite the escalation of social disabilities stemming from poverty, the burden of exclusion and vulnerability; does by no means adequately meet a mere intellectual curiosity, but stands out as a genuine key concern for both policy makers and local stakeholders.
If solidarity of belonging, in the contention of many, are associated with the past hence invoking Bedouin and rural communities, however, are still intensive in the current evolution of Tunisian society in both rural and urban settings. If we restrict ourselves to the family: this primary unit of kinship, it is already noticeable that it continues to make sizeable contribution to the protection, integration and support of its adult and relatively autonomous members.
The protective role of the family and its character of an integrator would even be so much confirmed and strengthened if family networks were dense enough with broader capacities to better ensure necessary assistance and support.
Considering the urban areas, it is the neighborhood that constitutes the tiniest unit of social life. Within the field of sociology, the notion of neighborhood refers to the ties governing a group of people that commonly share the same territory. The first definition can be credited with The Chicago School of Sociology that unswervingly defines it with the concept of community (Gemeinschaft) put forward by Ferdinand Tönnies (1887)[1] as: “a fundamental group between family and playgroup”. Community, Tönnies argues, is:’’Groups that form around essential will’’, and are built on primary relationships, on the family, and are touched on the village, or as well as a small-scale urban grouping which is comprised of personal social ties, in-person daily interactions between and among individuals at every living moment.[2]
Whithead had already laid the emphasis on the appropriation of the term neighborhood at the international level (EU Commission on Global Governance). Hence, the “global village” becomes, more specifically, the ‘global neighborhood’— which is being promoted as a moral space through which to manage the complex economic, political, and ecological problems of the planet.
Other streams of definitions draw distinctions between neighborhoods, which are simply people living in an area and experiencing the same things, and ‘communities’ which are conscious of the communality which derive from common spatial experience and are willing to act communally.[3]
Mindful of going beyond mere immediate interactions generating sociability, other definitions address the issue of neighborhoods in terms of daily attendances of premises such as primary school or kindergarten or civic centers, whilst senior levels (districts, cities) prove of infrequent use. Such a view, oftentimes taken by urban planners, focuses on the neighborhood geographical space and the arrangement of items in the physical environment. This approach comprises both natural space and constructed space.[4]
As regards the Tunisian context, models of solidarity, filiation and recognition, though fundamentally altered under the strain of this long, yet slow historical evolution which should devote the individual to being relatively autonomous; often seem to be growing on an upward movement thus moving from the family level, extended kin, neighborhood, corporation, and region to eventually reach national cohesion. It is quite worth revealing that such social entities taking multiple forms and differing in nature would provide individuals with the social bonds manifested in both protection and recognition[5]. Protection includes all the support that an individual can mobilize to cope with the ups and downs of life, and recognition includes the social interaction/sociation that motivates individuals by substantiating their existence and the productive or creative values that are attached to it by the other or others. The expression ‘count on’ fairly well summarizes what individuals can hope for from their relationships with others and with institutions in terms of protection, while the expression ‘count for’ expresses the just as crucial expectation of recognition.
Within this analytical framework, both the diversification and growing number of the circles to which the Tunisian can filiate do not dispute the fact that the filiation circle and that of neighborhood seem to be original units (in the sense construed by Simmel) from which he could turn towards further groups.[6]
The main goal of this symposium is to raise questions about the relevance of kinship, neighborhood and community as a source of meaning, identity and socio-economic solidarity. It aims at providing some insight into the following set of questions:
- How to construe revival of primary circles of filiation in a context of globalization of exchange and the virtualization of social relationships?
- How do local actors appropriate the constructed space? What are practices, perceptions, values and representations pertaining to such a space?
- Does the local community foster the development of positive synergies within its components towards a democratized development?
- Are (Informal) family and neighborhood solidarities able to address failures of (formal) national, breaks in social bonds and institutional solidarities grounded on the logic of larges entities and large numbers?
Topic Proposals
Priority will also be given to thematic axes revolving around an array of research topics:
- Primary solidarities, inter-generational solidarities, and inclusive development.
- Micro-neighborhoods, constructed space and problems of ’convivir’ /’living together’.
- Family, kin, and social networks or the logic of transition from the local to the universal.
- Territory, territorial identity and identarian closure.
Participation conditions
- Fill out the registration form found on the website http://carep.tn.
- The abstract: The candidate must mention the chosen axis; the text must be between 500 and 700 words long, including the title, problem, method, main ideas, key words (at least five), and a brief bibliography. By strictly adhering to the scientific methodological conditions (footnotes, source list, bibliography...) More information can be found at http://dohainstitute.org or http://carep.tn).
- The final paper (Full Paper) should be between 5000 and 7000 words long.
- The final text as well as the summary: In Arabic, use Sakkal Majalla 14; in other languages, use Times New Roman 12 with 1.5 line spacing.
- The following languages were used at the conference: Arabic, French, and English.
- Contribution originality: The researcher agrees to submit an original article that has never previously appeared in any scientific event.
Correspondence address: Please send proposed contributions to carep.fshst.colloque.parente.2023@gmail.com
before December 30, 2022
- Publication: The proceedings of this symposium will be published in Arabic in the future. Participants will receive notification.
- The Center is in charge of translating texts from other languages into Arabic.
- The center will pay for your travel and living expenses. There will be no compensation for contributions made to the colloquium.
- All accepted research is owned by the Center’s intellectual property rights.
- For more information, please contact carep.tn@gmail.com or call (00216) 70147384.
Schedule
- The conference will take place on May 4 and 5, 2023.
- The announcement will be made public on November 15, 2022.
- Abstract submission deadline : December 30, 2022
- Date of notification of evaluation results: January 30, 2023
- Acceptance of the complete scientific article is due on March 30, 2023.
Scientific Committee
- Ahmed Khawaja: full professor and researcher in sociology at the faculty of human and social sciences in Tunis.
- Salah El-Din Ben Faraj: full professor and researcher in sociology at the faculty of human and social sciences in Tunis.
- Mehdi Mabrouk: full professor and researcher in sociology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis. Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. Tunisia.
- Mounir Saidani: full professor in sociology and researcher at the Center for Economic and Social Studies and Research in Tunis (CERES).
- Amal Montaser Hammami: associate professor at the National School of Architecture and Urban Planning in Tunis.
- Abd al-Sattar al-Sahbani: full professor of higher education and researcher in sociology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tunis.
- Ali Hammami: Professor and researcher in sociology, and head of the sociology department at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of Tunis.
Notes
[1][1] Ferdinand Tönnies, Communauté et Société (Paris : PUF,1887)
[2]Hélène Jannière, « Planifier le quotidien : voisinage et unité de voisinage dans la conception des quartiers de France », STRATES, no.14, (2008).
[3] Ray Forrest, « Le voisinage ? Quelle importance ? », RISS, no. 191(2007).
[4]Paul-Henry Chombart de Lauwe, Des Hommes et des villes (Paris : Payot, 1963).
[5] Serge Paugam, Le lien Social (Paris : PUF, coll. « Que sais-je ? », 2008)
[6] Georg Simmel, Sociologie, étude sur les formes de socialisation (Paris : PUF, 1999).
Subjects
Places
- 10 rue tanit notredame
Tunis, Tunisia (1082)
Event attendance modalities
Hybrid event (on site and online)
Date(s)
- Friday, December 30, 2022
Attached files
Keywords
- Kinship - Neighborhood - Communities - Bond - Local - Global
Contact(s)
- henda ghribi
courriel : henda [dot] carep [at] gmail [dot] com
Reference Urls
Information source
- henda ghribi
courriel : henda [dot] carep [at] gmail [dot] com
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Kinship, Neighborhoods and Communities in The Maghreb: Or How to Rethink the Bond between the Local and the Global? », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Monday, December 05, 2022, https://doi.org/10.58079/1a46