Date:
Location:
The Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University invites you to the first edition of
"LEARNING FROM THE MEDINA"
A Series of Roundtables on Historical Landscapes, Indigenous Urban Knowledge, Sustainable Practices,
Material and Cultural Heritage Preservation, Gentrification and DE gentrification
Moderated by Gareth Doherty, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Discussion 1:
DE gentrifying the Medina: High Urban Density for Low-Income Communities
By Faika Bejaoui
Architect, Member of the Tunisian Academy of Arts and Sciences, President of the national committee of ICOMOS Tunisia, former Project Director at the Association for Preservation of the Medina of Tunis (1982-2019). Laureate of the Aga Khan Award for Islamic Architecture 2010 for the rehabilitation and requalification of the 19th and 20th century Tunis. Visiting Professor of architecture at Tunisia’s National School of Architecture and Urban Design (ENAU).
Discussion 2:
Ten Years a Medina Citizen: Re-shaping a Neighborhood’s Urban Economy with Cultural Tourism
By Leila Ben Gacem
Serial Social-Entrepreneur. Ashoka fellow. Founder of a social enterprise -Blue Fish in 2006-, two boutique hotels in the Medina of Tunis -Dar Ben Gacem Pasha in 2013 and Dar Ben Gacem Kahia in 2019. Founder of the first co-working space in the Medina of Tunis --Dar el-Harka in 2017. Initiator and co-manager of Mdinti, a network of economic interest of Medina businesses and non-profits of the Medina in 2020. Director General of Tunistoric, an investment fund aimed at revitalizing the Medina of Tunis launched in 2020.
Discussion 3:
Artists’ Archives in the City: Trailing the Mysterious Female Painter of 1930s Halfaouine
By Mohamed-Ali Berhouma
Assistant professor at the Institut Supérieur des Beaux-arts de Nabeul (Tunisia), where he teaches visual arts, art history and poetics. Holds a Ph.D in in Art Sciences and Techniques (Institut Supérieur des Beaux-Arts, Tunis) on the dialogue between artists and the materials they use. His research interests include the historiography of modern art in Tunisia and critical and aesthetic studies of contemporary Tunisian studios. Mohamed-Ali Berhouma is scientific advisor and founder of the media library specializing in the visual arts of the South at the 32Bis, a contemporary art gallery in Tunis. In addition to other publications, he has been directing the research notebook Les Carnets des Imaginaires de l'Atelier since 2016.
Discussion 4:
Water in the City: Mapping and Documenting the Historical Hammams of Tunis
By Sana Letaief
Designer, graduate of the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences et Technologies du Design (ESSTED), Assistant professor at the Higher Institute of Arts and Crafts of Siliana (ISAMS). She holds a Ph.D in cultural heritage studies from the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences in Tunis (FSHST). Member of the Laboratoire d'Archéologie et d'Architecture Maghrébine (LAAM). She has recently published a « Les Hammams de la Médina de Tunis» in 2023.
This event will be held in person. Admission is free.
