The Summer Academy in the Radio

By Mariam Salehi

Rachid Ouaissa, Professor for Politics of the Near and Middle East at the University of Marburg, talks with RTCI (Radio Tunis Chaîne Internationale) about the Summer Academy, University of Marburg and the partners in Tunis, as well as current developments in the Arab World.

Does ‘politics’ always have the meaning of ‘politics of politicians’ or can it also include civil elements and everyday activities?  Around 40 researchers from various parts of the world and with different academic backgrounds offer rich and diverse perspectives on the topic, discussing ‘the political’ not only in the political, but also in the social and cultural sphere.

Prof Rachid Ouaissa (on the left) with participants (Photo: Mariam Salehi)

The Summer Academy is embedded in the broader framework of the Research Network “Re-Configurations. History, Remembrance and Transformation Processes in the Middle East and North Africa” at the University of Marburg, funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research. Recalling the history of Philipps-Universität Marburg (as it is called in German), which Landgrave Philipp founded in 1527 as a protestant institution and is the oldest one still existing, Ouaissa explains that the university had been the central arena for a religious dialogue in its founding years.

Thus, this history provides a nice backdrop for the issues of political, cultural and social re-configurations, about change and compromise in the MENA region, which are discussed during the Summer Academy.

You can listen to Professor Ouaissa’s interview here: