Dr Edwige Fortier (Gates Foundation, London) presents "Transition and Marginalization: Locating Spaces for Discursive Contestation in Post-Revolution Tunisia"
Part of the IAIS Visiting Speakers Series
Dr Edwige Fortier began her career in HIV/AIDS policy development and research in 2001 working with organisations including Save the Children UK and the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on HIV/AIDS. Through her work at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, she began to focus more extensively in supporting the engagement of civil society organisations. Edwige received her doctoral degree in Development Studies from SOAS researching civil society organisations in the Middle East and North Africa. She currently works as the Advocacy and Resource Mobilization Lead on the Global Fund at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Europe and Middle East Office in London supporting a portfolio of grants to smaller organisations working in HIV/AIDS activism.
| An Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies lecture | |
|---|---|
| Date | 17 October 2018 |
| Time | 17:15 |
| Place | IAIS Building/LT1 |
| Provider | Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies |
Event details
Abstract
The transition to democracy continues to nourish expectations among a range of stakeholders for an expansion of space for political liberalisation, redistribution and perhaps most importantly, recognition. From 2011 to 2013, the landscape for civil society organisations in Tunisia quickly widened with the establishment of several thousand new associations. However, vulnerable groups, in particular, homosexual men, perceive and have also experienced increased degrees of marginalisation since the revolution in Tunisia in 2011. This talk follows the experiences of some of the members of the homosexual community in Tunis who also established one of Tunisia's first LGBT associations after the revolution, known as Damj, or 'reinsertion'. It highlights the competing priorities within the political and public sphere; more importantly, those voices left out as a range of mainstream as well as peripheral issues are presented for debate and discursive contestation.
Tea and coffee will be served from 4.30pm in the IAIS Common Room. All are welcome to attend.
Dr Edwige Fortier
Location:
IAIS Building/LT1
