The Notion of a "Tunisian Exception" is Never Neutral
The professor emeritus at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tunis, Abdelhamid Henia, began a conference on the major reforms undertaken in Tunisia between 1840 and the end of the government of Kheireddine Pacha (Ettounsi) on Wednesday, February 4, at Beit al-Hikma in Carthage, with a methodological warning: discussing the "Tunisian exception" is never neutral.
A Pivotal Period Often Misinterpreted
This period is often interpreted in historiography as the simple product of foreign pressures. However, the speaker assumed his posture, that of a historian conscious of his subjectivity, but careful to master it. "Acknowledging one's subjectivity allows for control over it," he emphasized, preferring to discuss concrete historical realities rather than abstract objectivity. The goal is clear: to overcome a reductive reading that would make the Tunisian reforms of the 19th century a mechanical consequence of European powers' intervention.
France, Ottoman Empire, and Great Britain: Influences to be Relativized
From 1840 onwards, Tunisia underwent a series of political, administrative, fiscal, and judicial reforms that profoundly transformed the state's structures. These transformations have been extensively studied by Tunisian and foreign researchers. A relative consensus has been established, according to which the abolition of slavery in 1846, the Fundamental Pact of 1857, and the Constitution of 1861 would be essentially the result of British, French, or Ottoman pressures.
However, this interpretation poses a major problem, as it evacuates the role of Tunisian actors and suggests a society incapable of producing its own dynamics of change. A detailed analysis of the relationships with foreign powers invites nuance. Concerning France, the argument of abolitionist pressure does not withstand the examination of facts, since Paris did not definitively abolish slavery until 1848, two years after Tunisia. Moreover, documents attest to French hostility to certain Tunisian measures hindering the slave trade.
On the side of the Ottoman Empire, the chronology is just as revealing. The abolition of slavery occurred in 1850, and the Ottoman Constitution in 1876, long after those of Tunisia. These temporal discrepancies question the idea of a model imposed by Istanbul. As for Great Britain, its role in the abolition of slavery is real, since it occurred in 1833, but it is part of an economic logic linked to the industrial revolution. The progressive measures taken by Ahmed Bey between 1841 and 1846 are thus part of a pragmatic diplomatic strategy aimed at obtaining British support in the face of Ottoman and French ambitions, rather than a capitulation under pressure.
An Internal Dynamic Marked by the Transition from "Beylik" to "State"
For the speaker, talking about "reforms imposed by European consuls" is a Eurocentric reading that denies the existence of an internal Tunisian dynamic. The reformers, influenced by the West, do not simply import or copy models. They reinvent them, adapt them, and inscribe them in a local context marked by social and religious resistances. This capacity for appropriation also appears in the reformist discourse. From 1840 onwards, Tunisia experienced a genuine epistemological rupture with the emergence of new political categories and linguistic uses, marked notably by the transition from the concept of "beylik" to that of "state". Reforms are no longer conceived as a religious duty, but as a political necessity.
Notably, the Tunisian reformists do not claim any religious reforms. Their priority goes to the military, administrative, educational, social, and legislative domains. "Islah" becomes a tool for political survival, not a theological project. This secular approach will durably mark the Tunisian elite, from the national movement to the post-independence period.
Rethinking the Tunisian Exception
The question of the Tunisian exception cannot be evacuated. The reformers of the second half of the 19th century perceived themselves as being at the forefront of the Arab-Muslim world, even ahead of certain Western powers, particularly in terms of the abolition of slavery. The reform project carried by Ahmed Bey and pursued by Kheireddine Pacha appears as a founding act of a new Tunisian modernity, aiming to strengthen the country's sovereignty in the face of economic and geopolitical challenges.
Rethinking the Tunisian exception, concludes the speaker, is not about giving in to excessive national pride, but recognizing a singular historical trajectory, shaped by internal choices, a affirmed political consciousness, and a assumed will to be at the forefront.
The conference ended with the screening of the film "La liberté en acte" (Freedom in Action) by director Hichem Ben Ammar. The documentary looks back on a founding moment in Tunisian history, the official abolition of slavery in 1846, making Tunisia the first country in the Arab-Muslim world to take this decisive step.
Through a sober and sensitive cinematographic writing, the film convenes archival images, paintings, engravings, animated maps, and contemporary voices to give body to a history long relegated to the margins of collective memory. "La liberté en acte" questions the political, economic, and theological springs of this pioneering abolition, while giving voice to forgotten figures, silent resistances, and still-living legacies.
Between historical rigor and visual poetry, the work illuminates a little-known page of Tunisian history and inscribes it in a universal reflection on freedom, human dignity during the colonial era, and the duty of memory.
