After invading Tunisia in 1881, the French installed a protectorate in which they shared power with the Tunisian ruling dynasty and, due to the dynasty's treaties with other European powers, with some of their imperial rivals. This "indirect" form of colonization was intended to prevent the violent clashes marking France's outright annexation of neighboring Algeria. But as Mary Dewhurst Lewis shows in Divided Rule, France's method of governance in Tunisia actually created a whole new set of conflicts. In one of the most dynamic crossroads of the Mediterranean world, residents of Tunisia- whether Muslim, Jewish, or Christian-navigated through the competing power structures to further their civil rights and individual interests and often thwarted the aims of the French state in the process.
Over time, these everyday challenges to colonial authority led France to institute reforms that slowly undermined Tunisian sovereignty and replaced it with a more heavy-handed form of rule-a move also intended to ward off France's European rivals, who still sought influence in Tunisia. In so doing, the French inadvertently encouraged a powerful backlash with major historical consequences, as Tunisians developed one of the earliest and most successful nationalist movements in the French empire. Based on archival research in four countries, Lewis uncovers important links between international power politics and everyday matters of rights, identity, and resistance to colonial authority, while re-interpreting the whole arc of French rule in Tunisia from the 1880s to the mid-20th century. Scholars, students, and anyone interested in the history of politics and rights in North Africa, or in the nature of imperialism more generally, will gain a deeper understanding of these issues from this sophisticated study of colonial Tunisia.
After invading Tunisia in 1881, the French installed a protectorate in which they shared power with the Tunisian ruling dynasty and, due to the dynasty's treaties with other European powers, with some of their imperial rivals. This "indirect" form of colonization was intended to prevent the violent clashes marking France's outright annexation of neighboring Algeria. But as Mary Dewhurst Lewis shows in Divided Rule, France's method of governance in Tunisia actually created a whole new set of conflicts. In one of the most dynamic crossroads of the Mediterranean world, residents of Tunisia- whether Muslim, Jewish, or Christian-navigated through the competing power structures to further their civil rights and individual interests and often thwarted the aims of the French state in the process.
Over time, these everyday challenges to colonial authority led France to institute reforms that slowly undermined Tunisian sovereignty and replaced it with a more heavy-handed form of rule-a move also intended to ward off France's European rivals, who still sought influence in Tunisia. In so doing, the French inadvertently encouraged a powerful backlash with major historical consequences, as Tunisians developed one of the earliest and most successful nationalist movements in the French empire. Based on archival research in four countries, Lewis uncovers important links between international power politics and everyday matters of rights, identity, and resistance to colonial authority, while re-interpreting the whole arc of French rule in Tunisia from the 1880s to the mid-20th century. Scholars, students, and anyone interested in the history of politics and rights in North Africa, or in the nature of imperialism more generally, will gain a deeper understanding of these issues from this sophisticated study of colonial Tunisia.
Preface and Acknowledgments Note on Arabic Spelling Introduction Chapter 1. Tunisia in the Imperial Mediterranean Chapter 2. Ending Extraterritoriality? Chapter 3. The Politics of Protection Chapter 4. Contested Terrain: Redefining Sovereignty in Twentieth-Century Tunisia Chapter 5. Over our Dead Bodies: Burial Rites and Sovereignty in 1930s Tunisia Conclusion and Epilogue: From Co-Sovereignty to Independence Bibliography
Mary Dewhurst Lewis is Professor of History at Harvard and author of The Boundaries of the Republic: Migrant Rights and the Limits of Universalism in France, 1918-1940 (Stanford University Press, 2007).
"This meticulously researched work ... provides a meaningful contribution to the study of both modern European colonialism and North African history. Highly recommended." -- M. Gershovich Choice "A thorough and creative analysis of the notion of sovreignity and its social practices in a colonized, legally pluralistic state." Journal of Interdisciplinary History "Perfectly integrated... [endowed] with a wealth of context that greatly enriches its comprehensibility and impressively displays the historian's art." -- Kenneth Perkins American Historical Review "A fascinating analysis ... compelling ... [pays] attention to native populations' agency." -- Malika Rahal H-Net "Lewis' analytical horizon is capacious ... this [book] has profound implications for our understanding of imperialism ... [a] great accomplishment." -- Martin Thomas H-Diplo Roundtable Reviews "Ground-breaking ... exemplarily rich and innovative ... Divided Rule brings an important new contribution to the international and domestic legal sphere component of the French empire." -- Idir Ouahes French History "Here, Lewis's extensive multilingual research in Tunisia, France, Britain and Italy is utilised to illuminating effect ... Like any pioneering study, Divided Rule answers many questions but also implicitly poses new ones, offering scholars a broadly applicable framework that transcends the boundaries between colonial and metropolitan geographic spaces and the disciplinary divisions between social, legal and diplomatic histories." -- Abdel Razzaq Takriti The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History "An engaging and informative work blending social and diplomatic history." -- Amy Kallander The Historian "Divided Rule is a work of patience, perseverance, and dazzling insight...Lewis achieves nothing less than a methodological breakthrough in the study of colonial domination." -- Nouri Gana Contemporary French Civilization "Brilliant... [Mary Dewhurst Lewis'] findings have profound implications not only for the modern history of France and North Africa, but for the history of western colonialism more broadly." -- Jessica Marglin French Politics, Culture & Society "The author's analysis of the beginnings of Tunisian nationalism in its thoroughly transnational context is even more vital in light of the country's more recent history." -- Naomi Davidson Journal of Modern History
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