Historical overview

The IBLA, “Institut des Belles Lettres Arabes” (Institute of Arabic Literature and Humanities) is both a historic site and an emblematic of Tunisian intellectual life. This institute has undergone successive developments that have shaped its unique heritage. From its initial vocation as a training centre for Christian priests in Arabic and Islamic civilisation, the IBLA has become a space for religious and cultural dialogue with Tunisian society, and then a centre for scientific research. In 1937, the institute has started the publication of its distinguished journal under the same name, “Revue de l’IBLA”, making it the oldest Tunisian journal in humanities and social sciences. More than 232 issues have been published so far, and dozens of other publications mainly in Arabic, French and English.

The IBLA and its eponymous journal owe their foundation to the White Fathers of North Africa, in other words the members of the Society of African Missionaries, which was founded in 1868 by Cardinal Lavigerie in Algiers and then moved in Tunisia in 1875.

When, in 1926, the General Chapter of the White Fathers decided to establish an institution dedicated to the study of Arabic, it was quickly agreed that it would be located in Tunis, between the Medina and the European quarter. A dynamic location offering privileged access to the city centre for White Fathers who had come to learn about the Arab and Muslim culture of the region. The Institute had been founded by the impetus of Father André Demeerseman (1901-1993), who became its director in 1930. This was in line with the scientific tradition of the Zitouna education.

Jointly with his teachings to the White Fathers, he attended the courses of the Khaldounia, an academic association which mission was to work towards the dissemination of a more modern Arab culture. His ecclesiastical activities then ranged hand in hand with his desire to take Tunisia as a field of study in order to pursue his objectives of education of the White Sisters and Fathers.

As early as 1928, the first brochures appeared, among other outputs from the lectures of the Cercle des Amitiés Tunisiennes (Circle of Tunisian Friendships), created by Father André Demeerseman, and were then divided into two distinct series: The Cahiers Tunisiens and Documents Tunisiens, composed in a rather varied way of collections of tales, poems, proverbs, but also glossaries, descriptions, introductions, notes or comments.  These early publications highlighted both popular and scholarly literature, and recorded the nuances of Tunisian Arabic in a dedicated collection, “The Bled”, a tool that was supposed to be mobilized by the settlers in order to better master the Tunisian dialect.

While the IBLA was officially inaugurated under this name in May 1931 in Jamaa al Haoua Street (André Demeerseman delivered the opening speech), the Institute gradually expanded, specializing in the humanities and social sciences applied to Tunisia. Within the Circle of Tunisian Friendships, fruitful reflections were developed which would give rise to conversation textbooks, a series of about thirty conversations on daily life in Tunisia entitled “Miroir de la vie tunisienne “ (Mirror of the Tunisian Life, 1941) and “Le Guide pratique” (The Practical Guide, 1945)

In April 1937 the first issue of the IBLA journal, then a handout "simple bulletin", was published, collecting on 56 pages, observations and documentation on various subjects, all organized in in two distinct components: the study of both classical and that of dialectal Arabic. While classical Arabic helped for the study of Islamology and religious topics such as Muslim law, the history of Islam or the study of sacred texts, dialectal Arabic had become a tool allowing a better knowledge of Tunisian traditions.

The objectives of the journal were specified in the 1938 issue: “IBLA appears quarterly in about 80 pages and publishes not only methodical surveys on the Tunisian environment but also studies on particular points of sociology, religion, the movement of ideas, and so...”. In 1942, IBLA appeared in print and reached a large number of readers, continuing its documentary and bibliographic mission and maintaining its orientalist line. After the war, and with the opening of a library for Tunisian teachers and students, the Institute became a research centre and and its revue became more scientific. At the same time, the content was modified, its tables of subjects changed and certain sections such as “Religion”, “Settler’s Page” or “Investigations” were replaced by a theme focused on the “Folklore”, which included ethnography in the 1950s. The scientific fields of the journal were mainly linguistics, sociology, ethnography, culture, literature, history, economics, agriculture, health, Islam and ethics. Thus, in 1960, more than 2,500 copies of the IBLA journal were distributed, testifying to its commitment and persistence, at a time when many newspapers did not survive the political problems. This singularity can be explained by the journal’s willingness to stay away from political debates, while questioning them through special articles dealing with contemporary topics.

The periodical owed much of its longevity to its contributors, including Father André Demeerseman, who played a leading role. He was the author of eighteen books, one hundred and twenty articles and more than a hundred reviews on ethnology and the history of the ideas of contemporary Tunisia. The journal included a wide range of predilection fields, which were also extended to the evolution of the family and the role of women in social transformations, to dialects, as well as to the diversity and evolution of the literate environment. Demeerseman‘s work in favour of Islamic-Christian dialogue, in a favourable context to the evolving relations between Christians and followers of other religions – in the former colonial countries – also led to the establishment in 1965 of a Secretariat for Dialogue with Non-Christian Religions, based in Rome. His experience as a priest has thus nourished and influenced, throughout his research work. He became a committed observer and a witness of Tunisian society. While staying away from politics, André Demeerseman held in fact cautious anti-colonial positions, and pronounced a conference during which he would call to humanism and to the Franco-Tunisian opinion. He would mark his time as a privileged mediator with Tunisian society, seeking through his work to constitute a bridge between the East and the West, making the IBLA and its journal essential resources for Tunisian and international researchers and academics with whom he cooperated throughout his life.

The IBLA journal would also persist thanks to the contribution of other White Fathers, such as Father André Louis (1912-1978), one of the first collaborators of the magazine and author of more than fifty articles, or Jean Fontaine (1936-2021), director of the Institute from 1977 to 1999, and the author of numerous reviews. In 1977, the IBLA journal thus acquired a reading committee composed mainly of Tunisians, in charge of the management and steering of the journal. It is composed of 14 members, the editorial board has included Tunisian scholars and intellectuals from all scientific fields, and such diversity reflects the plurality and richness of the journal.

The IBLA library, still owned by the White Fathers, reopened to the public on May 5, 2014, after a four-year closure. The fire of January 5, 2010 caused a partial destruction of the library and resulted in the loss of countless books, newspapers, magazines and archives preserved in this space which now has more than 30,000 books and 600 periodicals. The library is now accessible to readers from Monday to Friday, providing documentary resources covering a geographical area from the Maghreb to the Machrek. The availability of a collection of journal articles, which are listed in a specific file, is an additional asset of the library funds.

The Institute is also the site for school support courses for the neighbourhood’s pupils, for whom former students and teachers do not hesitate to donate textbooks to back this initiative. Finally, the White Sisters, necessarily affiliated due to their name and history to the White Fathers, provide an instruction in Tunisian Arabic for people living in Tunisia or elsewhere, wishing to learn this language. The Manual by Madeleine Prim (d. 2019), “Tunisian Arabic Course. Level 1” is thus recognized as a reference book in the field of learning dialectal Arabic in Tunisia. In this regard, the study of this language was carried out, throughout the publication of the IBLA journal issues, a prime source, notably through the proverbs, tales or even popular expressions, highlighted as founding elements of the Tunisian identity.

Today aged 87, the journal of the Institut des Belles Lettres Arabes continues to question its contemporaries through its scientific articles and the thematic orientations of the publications contained therein, which are compatible with Tunisian and international circumstances. With more than 1,400 articles, in addition to  reviews from Tunisian editorial production, IBLA has continuously, throughout its history, shaped the research landscape towards a compilation and better accessibility of knowledge for people wishing to invest in a study field based in North Africa.