Research on Islamist movements in the Middle East and North Africa has tended to focus on leaders and ideologues to explain transformation over time. This thesis, however, is a political ethnography of the Tunisian al-Nahda movement that focuses on one city to present a fine-grained micro-study of the shifting trajectories of an Islamist organisation. The main original finding is that the relationship between politics and preaching in the practice of Islamism can be conflicting and irreconcilable, rather than cohesive and interdependent. By privileging the experiences of non-elite activists, this thesis also identifies informal networks, an individual reimagining of the Islamist project, and peripheral activism as explaining resilience under repression. It argues that al-Nahda has undergone strategic and intellectual adaptations, which have incurred costs, culminating in a decision in 2016 to separate the political party from social, religious, and cultural work. This thesis is based on fourteen months of fieldwork among current and former al-Nahda activists in the city of Sousse. It addresses the origins of the movement in Sousse to ask why the movement first emerged in the city and what mechanisms of mobilisation were deployed. It rethinks the politicisation of the movement in the 1980s to challenge previous assumptions that suggested the movement grew away from its preaching origins. The thesis addresses the effect of two decades of repression, excavating the prison experience and the period of social exclusion which followed and which disaggregated the movement into its constituent parts. It explains why the movement fragmented after 2011 even as activists rebuilt and redefined their project. In conclusion, the thesis accounts for the tension between politics and preaching within the movement, interrogates the party-movement separation of 2016, and asks what lessons similar Islamist experiences in the region might offer al-Nahda.

Foucault described translation as an instance of two languages colliding; Spivak calls translation “the most intimate act of reading.” Considering the two Egyptian novels ‘Uṣfūr min al-sharq by Tawfīq al-Ḥakīm (1938) and Qindīl umm hāshim by Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī (1944), this paper argues that the particularly subtle type of translation that they employ from French and English into Arabic can be best analyzed with a theoretical model of translation that, following Foucault and Spivak, emphasizes the material properties of languages, and specifically, their capacity to engage each other physically through acts of colliding, coupling, and reproducing. Such a method of analysis suggests fruitful new implications for looking at how language and literature traveled between Egypt and Europe during the so-called Arab Renaissance (the nahḍa) of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including what possibilities for the Arabic language might have emerged in its intimate engagement with the languages of the European other. Moreover, this model of translation allows us to move beyond the politicized paradigms that dominate the field of contemporary translation studies and embrace the contradictions and paradoxes inherent in any encounter between cultures, societies, and languages, and in any act of translation. / text

During the Arabic cultural renaissance of the nineteenth century known as the nahda, Christian Arabs made a substantial contribution to the development of fiction and journalism. Among these pioneers, Salim al-Bustani, Jurji Zaydan, and Farah Antun were inspired by translations of European fiction to write the first historical novels in Arabic. Their narrations of the Muslim wars of conquest are carefully constructed blends of history and fiction that emphasize the cultural and religious values that Christian and Muslim Arabs hold in common. In their novels, these authors celebrate the historical achievements of the Arabs and seek to inspire a new sense of Arab cultural identity, open to Christians and Muslims alike and based on shared language, history, territory, values, and aspirations for reform. In this way, these authors respond to the sectarian tensions of their time, European imperialism, and the challenges of modernism with ideas that would become central to Arab nationalist discourse in the twentieth century.

Arabic language ideology that views the colloquial as a threat to the standard language and fears a public role for the colloquial register remained prevalent throughout much of the twentieth century. Yet, in late nineteenth-century Egypt, the Nahda project of disseminating knowledge to ‘the masses’ gave rise to several journals that found a public role for Ammiyya, introducing it into the realm of written knowledge. This study analyzes the processes of introducing Ammiyya into the written realm and the subsequent attempt at reeling the register back in from the public sphere. Through a framework of the sociolinguistic analysis of style and the process of iconization, Part I analyzes Abdallah al-Nadim’s use of language variation in his journal, al-Ustaadh, and how it aided in sorting out contradiction between ideology that hailed the standard as the suitable public register and practice that conceded a role to the colloquial. This study argues that even as his journal published didactic dialogues in Ammiyya, Nadim’s language practice chipped away at the prospect of a sustained literary role for the colloquial through the use of ‘styles’ that aligned the standard with authority and a keen understanding of the modernity project and through indexing the colloquial with the backward realm of uneducated women. Through the framework of the process of ‘erasure', Part II analyzes linguistic practices aimed at reeling the colloquial back in from the realm of written knowledge. It demonstrates Nadim’s efforts - near the end of the publication of his journal - to erase the notion that an educated Egyptian would have any use for the register. Nadim removed the salient features of Ammiyya from his dialogues and scolded his interlocutors who displayed their backwardness through the continued use of the features. Late nineteenth- century works, such as Hasan Tawfiq’s Usuul al-Kalimaat al-Ammiyya, represent a continuation of the ideology-practice dialectic from Nadim’s attempted erasure of the colloquial. However, whereas Nadim erased salient features of the colloquial from his writings, these works attempted to trace Ammiyya terms back to their assumed Fusha origins, with the aim of unifying the language by erasing the register. / text

Cette recherche porte sur l'évolution de la critique poétique arabe moderne, elle combine deux volets, l'un diachronique et l'autre analytique. D'une part, elle exAmīne l'histoire de cette évolution qui en l'espace d'un siècle a été impressionnante et d'autre part elle analyse ce phénomène qui dans l'histoire littéraire mondiale ne s'est jamais produit sur une durée aussi courte. La période de la nahḍa a commencé durant la deuxième moitié du XIXème siècle et a duré jusqu'aux années trente du XXème siècle. La littérature arabe a été ébranlée par une multitude de mouvements à la fois conservateurs et modernistes , mouvements qui ont tantôt cohabité et tantôt se sont opposés ; la poésie, en particulier a comblé un retard de cinq siècles, comme en témoignent le nombre de poèmes et de recueils publiés et la multiplication des styles et des écoles littéraires.Durant un siècle et souvent pendant la même période, nous pouvons découvrir des poètes classiques, néoclassiques, romantiques, symboliques et réalistes. La production poétique a aussi été très variée et a respecté les règles classiques relatives à la mesure et aux rimes tout en affichant un retour vers la forme classique pour affirmer la maîtrise. Puis, l'inspiration du "muwaššaḥ" a fait son apparition et s'est détourné de l'exigence de la forme traditionnelle avec quelques tentatives pour écrire de la poésie libre et en prose avec de nouvelles mesures et enfin l'arrivée de la poésie blanche...etc.Toutes ces tentatives pour se rattacher à un courant n'ont pas échappé à la critique qui a parfois ouvert la voix aux poètes et a parfois précédé la production poétique et qui a subi la pression moderniste en essayant de la rejoindre; la critique a puisé dans les écrits anciens et en même temps une ouverture sur la critique occidentale. La révolution contre le traditionalisme est lancée avec des écoles qui ont revendiqué une coupure avec l'héritage des classiques. D'autres courants vont résister à l'influence européenne en prenant pour prétexte le combat contre le colonialisme occidental. Ces courants très résolus ont défendu l'attachement à l'ancienne école en invoquant la pureté de la langue du Coran, la richesse de cet héritage et le fait que cette modernisation peut susciter des théories inadaptées à la réalité sociale et culturelle. Nous tentons dans cette étude de présenter et d'analyser les quatre étapes que la poésie et la critique poétique ont traversées durant cette période :- L'étape de l'imitation médiocre. - L'étape de l'imitation cohérente et éloquente.- L'étape de l'innovation liée à la ferveur nationaliste.- L'étape de l'innovation liée à un sentiment de liberté individuelle. / The research work presented in this manuscript focuses on the evolution of the modern Arab poetry critic. The work is two fold: one diachronic and the other analytical. We detail on one hand the history of such evolution, which, in the space of a century, has been quite impressive, and on the other hand,we analyze this phenomenon, which has never occurred in the world literacy history over such a short time span. The period of the nahda started in the second half of the XIXth century and lasted up to the last years of the XXth century. The history of the Arab literature has been shattered by numerous events, at the same time conservative and modernist. Those events were at times contiguous and at times opposite: poetry in particular, has caught up with a major delayof nearly five centuries, as witnessed by the number of poems and collections published,and as well asby the multiplication of styles and literacy schools.Over the span of a century, and often within the same period, one may discoverand study classical, neoclassical, romantic, symbolic as well as realist poets. Furthermore, the poetry production has also been diversein styles, but at the same time addressed the classical rules related to the measure and the rhymes, while displaying a reversal movement towards the classical form, mainly to show and prove mastering skills. Then, the inspiration of the "muwaššaḥ" appeared and has strayed away from the requirements of the traditional form, with a few attempts to write free poetry as well as prose with new measures, and eventually came to the birth of white poetry,… etc.All those various efforts attempting atreclaiming a main historic literacy flow has definitely not been overlooked by the critic, which at times has brought forward poets, and at times has even preceded the poetic production which has undergone through the modernistic pressure by trying to join that same flow; the critique has drawn in the ancient scripts and at the same time in the opening into the occidental critic. The revolution against traditionalism has been launched with various schools who have claimed a split with the inheritance of the classics.Other currents have resisted to the European influence by pretexting a fight against occidental colonialism. These very resolute currents have defended the attachment to the ancient school by invoking the purity of the language of the Koran, the richness of this heritage and the fact that this modernization can produce ill-adapted theories to the social and cultural reality.We attempt in this work to present and analyze the four stages, through which poetry and the poetry critic have gone through during the past century:1) The stage of mediocre imitation 2) The stage of coherent and eloquent imitation, 3) The stage of innovation linked to a nationalist fervor4) And eventually the stage of innovation linked to a feeling of individual freedom.

La franc-maçonnerie apparaît être, dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle et au début du XXe, un élément essentiel du développement intellectuel et culturel du Bilâd al-Shâm. Ses membres sont impliqués dans le mouvement de renaissance intellectuelle Nahda, qui profite de l’ère politique nouvelle de l’Empire ottoman ouverte par les tanzimat. Dans ce contexte, les conflits religieux continuent d’agiter une société confessionnalisée, que les francs-maçons entraînent dans la voie du progrès, de la modernité et de la laïcité. Dans la 1e partie de la thèse, on présente la franc-maçonnerie dans sa réalité concrète à Beyrouth et au Mont Liban, prenant pour modèles deux loges, Palestine et Le Liban, mais aussi dans sa dimension spirituelle. Le processus d’intégration de la franc-maçonnerie et d’inculturation dans le milieu arabe est souligné, de même que le rôle que les francs-maçons font jouer à la Société Scientifique Syrienne. L’émir Muhammad Arslan, franc-maçon et réformateur, est présentée en tant qu’exemple d’une Aufklärung arabe. La 2e partie de la thèse montre le dialogue stérile entre francs-maçons et jésuites en Syrie ottomane. Le jugement sur l’entrée des croyants en franc-maçonnerie que porte un savant musulman, est présenté à partir de l’étude du premier manuscrit en arabe qui en traite. La thèse fait appel à divers témoignages publiés de contemporains, mais aussi à des manuscrits conservés dans des archives publiques et privées. Plusieurs d’entre eux sont utilisés pour la première fois, tel le plus ancien rituel maçonnique en langue arabe, le règlement intérieur de la première loge de Beyrouth ou les statuts inédits de la Société Scientifique Syrienne fondée par les francs-maçons. La recherche conduit ainsi à relever de quelle manière la franc-maçonnerie au cœur de débats, a proposé un modèle de société qui apparaît davantage méta-religieux qu’areligieux ou antireligieux. Cette société est celle où peut vivre désaliéné quiconque aspire au progrès et à la modernité. / Freemasonry appears to be in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, an essential part of the cultural development of Bilâd al-Shâm. Its members were involved in the intellectual movement revival "Nahda", which itself has been able to take advantage of the new political era of the Ottoman Empire opened by the Tanzimat. Religious conflicts continued to wave a confessional society. The Freemasons led it in the path of progress, modernity and secularism. In the 1st part of the thesis, we present Freemasonry in its concrete reality in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, through two lodges, Palestine and Le Liban, but also in its spiritual dimension. The integration and the Arabization process is emphasized by Freemasonry through the use of the ritual, and in the role that Freemasons played in the constitution of the Syrian Scientific Society in Beirut. A personality of rare diplomacy and knowledge, Emir Muhammad Arslan, Freemason and reformer, is presented as an example of an Arab intellectual. The 2nd part shows the fruitless dialogue between the Freemasons and the Jesuits in Ottoman Syria. The case of the Wandering Jew is an emblematic episode in the struggle for secularism led by Freemasons. Also we present the 1st manuscript written in Arabic in the Ottoman Empire by a Muslim scholar. The thesis uses various published testimonies of contemporaries, but is also based on manuscripts kept in public and private archives. Some of them, which have never been used so far, such as the oldest Masonic ritual in Arabic, provide a new light on the beginning of Freemasonry in Beirut and on its impact in the history of Ottoman Syria. The research concludes how Freemasonry at the heart of debates, was able to propose a new model of society that seems more meta-religious than non-religious or anti-religious. This is the new society, in which every human being is able to yearn for freedom and aspire to progress and modernity.

Ao acompanhar a trajetória intelectual de Jamil Almansur Haddad desde suas primeiras publicações até sua morte, esta Tese de doutorado traz à luz o percurso de um literato pertencente à segunda geração de imigrantes libaneses e suas relações paradoxais com o meio intelectual brasileiro e, em especial, o paulistano. Seu percurso biográfico ilustra um desdobramento do movimento literário árabe da imigração, que desempenhou papel central no processo de renascimento da literatura árabe no final do século XIX. Imerso no contexto cultural de um país em busca da conformação de sua verdadeira identidade nacional e vivendo na cidade de São Paulo - que em meados do século XX foi um dos maiores polos de imigração do mundo Jamil, através de sua experiência biográfica e de seu caminho literário, revela nuances de um processo intermediário de hibridação cultural. / This thesis follows the intellectual trajectory of Jamil Almansur Haddad from his first publications to his death, bringing to light the trajectory of a poet that belongs to the second generation of Lebanese immigrants and his paradoxical relations with the Brazilian intellectual environment and, in particular, the paulistano one. His biographical journey illustrates an unfolding of the Arab literary movement of immigration, which played a central role in the process of rebirth of Arab literature in the late nineteenth century. Immersed in the cultural context of a country in search of the conformation of its true national identity and living in the city of São Paulo - which in the mid-twentieth century was one of the largest poles of immigration in the world - Jamil, through his biographical experience and his literary path, reveals nuances of an intermediate process of cultural hybridization.

Ao acompanhar a trajetória intelectual de Jamil Almansur Haddad desde suas primeiras publicações até sua morte, esta Tese de doutorado traz à luz o percurso de um literato pertencente à segunda geração de imigrantes libaneses e suas relações paradoxais com o meio intelectual brasileiro e, em especial, o paulistano. Seu percurso biográfico ilustra um desdobramento do movimento literário árabe da imigração, que desempenhou papel central no processo de renascimento da literatura árabe no final do século XIX. Imerso no contexto cultural de um país em busca da conformação de sua verdadeira identidade nacional e vivendo na cidade de São Paulo - que em meados do século XX foi um dos maiores polos de imigração do mundo Jamil, através de sua experiência biográfica e de seu caminho literário, revela nuances de um processo intermediário de hibridação cultural. / This thesis follows the intellectual trajectory of Jamil Almansur Haddad from his first publications to his death, bringing to light the trajectory of a poet that belongs to the second generation of Lebanese immigrants and his paradoxical relations with the Brazilian intellectual environment and, in particular, the paulistano one. His biographical journey illustrates an unfolding of the Arab literary movement of immigration, which played a central role in the process of rebirth of Arab literature in the late nineteenth century. Immersed in the cultural context of a country in search of the conformation of its true national identity and living in the city of São Paulo - which in the mid-twentieth century was one of the largest poles of immigration in the world - Jamil, through his biographical experience and his literary path, reveals nuances of an intermediate process of cultural hybridization.