In this episode of the series 'Rethinking Contemporary Islamic Movements in and across Europe and the Middle East and North Africa', Iman Dawood and Guy Eyre speak to Théo Blanc (European University Institute) about his research on Salafi groups in Tunisia. Théo reflects on his experiences studying Salafism in North Africa, and in Tunisia in particular. He also discusses the main Salafi currents that emerged in Tunisia following the 2011 “Arab Uprisings” and the formation of “post-Salafi” currents in the country. Further, he considers the extent to which these shifts within Tunisian Salafism are part of broader transformations unfolding elsewhere in the region.

Théo Blanc is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the ERC-funded project MENA-PERC (Political Elites and Regime Change in the Middle East and North Africa) based at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa). He is also a Visiting Fellow at the European University Institute. He received a Ph.D in social and political sciences from the European University Institute (EUI, Florence)in June 2023. This thesis addressed the genealogy of Salafi currents in Tunisia and their political trajectories before and after the 2010/11 revolution.