Oussama Bouffrikha

Personal details

since 2015 PhD student at the University of Sousse under supervision of Prof. Ben Abdeljelil

“The social and cultural construction of homosexual identity: LGBT community in Tunis from morality to homonormativity”
since 2012 PhD student at the University of Sousse under supervision of Prof. Ben Abdeljelil

“Contesting Spaces and its symbolic systems: M’zab’s Ibadis from an anthropological perspective”
 since 2012 Teaching Assistant in Arabic language, literature and civilization at the University of Sousse
2011 Agrégation d’arabe at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) de Tunis
2010 Master’s Degree at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Sousse
2008 Bachelor’s Degree at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Sousse

Research profile

  • LGTB community in Tunisia
  • Contesting spaces and symbolic systems in Algeria

Dissertation

The Social and Cultural Construction of Homosexual Identity: Gay Community in Tunis

In this thesis, the main two research questions are how the gay community defies society norms through space and how they try to routinize and normalize homosexual behaviour.

Homosexual (gay) Identity in Tunis is both a cultural and a social construction. Gay experiences and the integration between sexual orientation and dominant Tunisian social norms will be explored. The data will be seen in terms of their structure and function and, if sufficient data are available, homosexual community will  be seen in a diachronic and synchronic sense as systems extended through space in their various relationships among themselves, their members, and the larger society. The Assosiation Shams, a Tunisian organization for LGBT Rights, campaigning for sexual minority rights in Tunesia, functions as the main source for the Data to be evaluated.

Publications

Studies, Articles and Reviews

  • (forthcoming): “Theoretical introduction to the interpretative anthropology and its perspectives to understand Ibadism in Mzab”. In: Seminar of Asyar Al-Ibadiya.
  • (forthcoming): “Protesting sacred Salafi spaces in post-revolutionary Tunisia”. Tunisia in Transition.
  • “Critique of Al-Jabiri” – Journal of Humanities, second year book, Autumn 2015, 58-72.

Lectures and conference contributions

2017

  • Lecturer of the Workshop “Homosexuality from an anthropological perspective”, Shams association, 18th January 2017.
  • Colloquium “Protesting Salafi Spaces in Post-revolutionary Tunisia: The construction of mythical identity”, FLSH Sousse, 5-8th April 2017.
  • German Oriental Studies Conference: Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, 18-22nd September 2017: Lecture within Panel 29: “Changes in the Arab World: The interplay of the local, regional and national level” (19th September 2017): “Social and cultural construction of LGBT identity in Tunis – from morality to homonor­mativity”.