Introducing «Things English», Habib Ajroud, Englishness and English Studies: Specificity or Interdisciplinarity? Definitions and Redefinitions of a Cultural Field, Dani Cavallaro, Let's Take the "Great" Out Of Britain, Mustapha Marrouchi, The Law of Primogeniture in England: Tradition & Representation, Zouhair Jammoussi, The Myth of the English Gentleman, Hans Joachim Possin, Language and Imperialism,David Davies,Performing Without Competence, Abdelmajid Degachi, Teaching Literature in Tunisia, Mark Lilly, The Representation of the Nation Space in Joyce Cary's Mr. Johnson and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Mpalive Msiska, George Orwell's English: Empire, Vision and Revision, Sadok Bouhlila, The Body of Fiction: A reading of Roxana, Habib Ajroud, The Self & the Other: new Critical Approaches to Othello, Sandra Clark, Meeting of Minds, Mohammed Mansouri, From the Sublime to the Divine: Willliam Blake, Anne Darlington.
ABSTRACT:
In the wake of the first Gulf War, it was simply not possible for us, the members of the Department of English in Tunisia, to avoid asking questions about the culture with which we were involved. What was being done to us Arabs forced us to look into the things we were doing.
As might be expected, our diversity, if only that, was to be fully expressed. Among us Tunisians already, what was striking was not so much the difference in focus as the different perspectives. With our "foreign" colleagues, academic interest was coupled, in varying degrees, with a poised interest in history and historical significance. In the light of recent developments on the world scene, and particularly the Mafia scandals in Italy, and the more and more blatant declarations by American "diplomats" concerning the role of the United States in the New World Order, the interpretation of fiction may be different. Even without such recent developments, the reaction of an Iraqi reader would certainly not have been similar.
Beyond the plurality of responses, we were anxious to achieve togetherness. Our concern is not that English Studies save the world, but that communication in English between intellectuals in the world make a greater contribution to that end than do the reports of specialists of all kinds and the legitimising discourse of mercenaries or militant fanatics. Identification of intellectuals and definition of their roles may be the first step in that respect. Creating as many opportunities as possible for such contacts is not merely desirable. It is necessary and urgent, regardless of cost, for it is an investment for the very near future. Indeed, our century of civilised progress in all fields cannot afford to bequeath to the twenty-first century the despair and violence that seem to lie at everyone's door at present. It may be appropriate not to leave the privilege of contact to the military, the experts and discredited United Nations functionaries and representatives.
