The Tunisian Revolution and After in the Work of Jalila Baccar and Fadhel Jaïbi

Abstract

Marvin Carlson’s chapter engages with the work of Jalila Baccar and her husband, Fadhel Jaïbi, who are based in one of the most critical post-conflict cities in the contemporary world: Tunis. Carlson argues that their work yields a unique insight into the recent turbulent history of Tunisia, where the self-immolation of a street vendor in Tunis was a shocking political act that precipitated the Arab Spring. Carlson chronicles how Baccar and Jaïbi’s trilogy of plays, which explicitly engage with the causes and aftermath of the Tunisian revolution, helped challenge and change the political landscape of Tunis. Carlson traces how the emergence of a national theatre in Tunis, alongside Baccar and Jaïbi’s burgeoning international acclaim, led to a series of commissions and confrontations with the state, as the new, hard-line Salafist regime targeted liberal, secular aspects of Tunisian society. In so doing, they created an even harsher environment than that of the deposed dictator, and Carlson highlights how artists like Baccar and Jaïbi have heroically fought to maintain a dissident and secular theatre in Tunis.