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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When I first started working on this book, people would sometimes ask me where Tunisia was. No one does that anymore, since the remarkable revolution of 2011 showed the world not only where Tunisia is but also what Tunisians are capable of. This book is not the story of the unexpected overthrow that year of Tunisia’s autocratic leader, Zine el-Abidine ben Ali, but rather of a much slower process of governmental change: the transformation of what was supposed to be an “indirect” form of colonial rule, whereby France would rule through the local sovereign and his institutions, into a much more invasive form of colonial governance barely distinguishable from the direct rule that prevailed in many other parts of the French Empire. I deliberately try to tell this story from multiple angles: from the supposedly “high” level of international power politics to the more quotidian power struggles of everyday life experienced by individuals. Telling the story this way requires tacking back and forth between many different sorts of sources and also reading them differently. Thus, I use many “diplomatic” archives, but I don’t read them only for what they tell me about international relations in the traditional sense. Instead, I read them alongside local documents—from courts, taxation authorities, and conscription offices, among others. This method allows us to reconstitute the actions of the Tunisian people—even when their voices were not recorded—as well as the actions of those who endeavored to control them. Reading these disparate sources together allows a new picture of colonial rule to emerge—one where domestic governance and international relations are intimately intertwined in ways not hitherto appreciated.

Using so many different sources, I have incurred many debts in researching this book. At the Tunisian National Archives, I am grateful to the director, Henda Ammar, and her staff, particularly Amma, for assistance in a project that at first surprised them. Research in Tunisia also was greatly facilitated by the assistance of the Centre des Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT) and by the then-director, Jim Miller, and associate director, Riadh Saadaoui. Béchir Yazidi, Leila Blili, Tom DeGeorges, and my sister-in-law Helen Sanders also offered invaluable advice about navigating Tunisia’s archives, libraries, and landscapes. In France and Italy, the following archivists, scholars, and librarians also provided precious aid: Damien Heurtebise at the Centre des Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes; Fabrizio Alberti at the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento a Roma; Mariapina Di Simone at the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome; Stefania Ruggeri and Signor Pinacchio at the archives of the Ministero degli Affari Esteri in Rome; and the amiable staff in the ministry’s library, all of whom helped me gain access to records that were in the process of relocation. Colonel Frédéric Guelton at the Service Historique de la Défense in Vincennes helped secure access to records for me and a research assistant, Miranda Richmond Mouillot. In the United Kingdom, the National Archives (former PRO) are so well organized that I did not need help from anyone in particular. Current and former Harvard students who have provided research assistance and/or insight on the project include, in addition to Miranda: Ali Asgar Alibhai, Mathieu Bouchard, Dzavid Dzanic, Liora Halperin, May Khoury, Dana Lindaman, Sarah McIntosh, Iliana Montauk, Holly Redmond, Devony Schmidt, Guillaume Wadia, and Skye Weinberger. Ali Asgar Alibhai’s assistance in translating Arabic into English was particularly invaluable, especially as he did not just “translate” but also asked probing questions about what he was translating; his inquisitiveness has improved this book. For assistance in securing permissions to reprint images, I would like to thank Jean-Luc Vives of the Montpellier médiathèque; Katia Cordova of the Réunion des musées français; Gerhard Gruitrooy and Kay Menick of Art Resource in New York; Stefania Ruggeri, Maria Aicardi, and Pierfranceso Sacco of the Archivio Storico Diplomatico in Rome; Damien Heurtebise and Laure Guelho at the Centre des Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes; and Anna Voellner at Heidelberg University Library. I also thank David Leyenson of Harvard’s Widener Library for cleverly tracking down the original source of one of the cartoon maps I use in the book and Scott Walker for drawing the other maps that appear herein.

Since 2004, I have presented parts of this work in many different venues and thank fellow panelists, chairs, and commentators, as well as the audiences at all of the following institutions and meetings for useful feedback: Society for French Historical Studies meetings in 2004 (in Paris) and 2007 (in Houston); American Historical Association meeting in 2007 (in Atlanta); the Harvard Global and International History Colloquium; the Johns Hopkins University History Seminar; the Comparative Sociology Department at Yale University; the University of Minnesota; the Jews and Empire Conference at the University of California Los Angeles; the Harvard University Committee on Human Rights; the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, where I was kindly invited by Nancy Green to serve as a visiting professor; the Cornell University History Colloquium; the “Colonialisms and Imperialisms” conference at Columbia University; and the Newhouse Center for the Humanities at Wellesley College, where I thank all my fellow fellows of 2011–12, the director, Carol Dougherty, and the administrator, Jane Jackson, without whose support I could not have completed this book during my sabbatical.

My editor at the University of California Press, Niels Hooper, intuitively understood this project from the beginning and supported it through completion, with the help of his very efficient assistant, Kim Hogeland, and the production team both at UC Press and Westchester Publishing Services. This book was conceived of, researched, and written in two distinct phases: before children and after. Accordingly, it went through a first phase of review at the University of California Press while still incomplete and another after the book was finished. This syncopated process allowed me to benefit from the collective insights of five different anonymous reviewers—two of whom have since revealed themselves to me as Julia Clancy-Smith and Martin Thomas. I am grateful to both of them, as well as to the three subsequent reviewers who remain anonymous. Clancy-Smith also provided feedback for the Journal of Modern History (JMH), where an article based on preliminary research for this book was published in 2007. Other still anonymous readers at the JMH and Past & Present also provided helpful suggestions that have improved this work. I thank both the JMH and Past & Present for allowing me to adapt portions of those articles in this work.

Other scholars and friends have read part or all of the manuscript or have provided a useful sounding board for ideas. They include Nourreddine Amara, Caitlin Anderson, David Armitage, Paul Arpaia, Sugata Bose, Vicki Caron, Herrick Chapman, Frederick Cooper, Tom De Georges, Victoria De Grazia, Nadya Hajj, Will Hanley, Maya Jasanoff, Cemal Kafadar, James Mc Dougall, Charles Maier, Mark Mazower, Susan Gilson Miller, Molly Nolan, Phil Nord, Roger Owen, Katy Park, David Powers, Emma Rothschild, Emmanuelle Saada, Sarah Stein, Moshik Temkin, Peter Wien, Jonathan Wyrtzen, Tara Zahra, and Malika Zeghal. My in-laws, Ann and John Dizikes, have provided intellectual, moral, and other support during the years I have been working on this project. My colleague and friend Alison Frank Johnson read almost every chapter, some more than once, and has provided stalwart friendship and support throughout this project. Only my husband, Peter Dizikes, has read more pages.

Research in four countries requires financial support, and I am indebted to the following sources for their generous funding: the Harvard University History Department; the Milton Fund of Harvard University; the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies Junior Faculty Research Fund; the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and its C. Douglas Dillon Fellowship and Distinguished Research Faculty Funds; the American Academy in Rome; and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Newhouse Center at Wellesley College provided a lovely office in which to complete the manuscript. I also could not have completed this without the support of the staff in the History Department and the Center for European Studies at Harvard. In particular, I would like to thank Paul Dzus, Janet Hatch, Lori Kelley, Mary McConnell, Cory Paulsen, and Anna Popiel; your dedication and support are deeply appreciated.

This book is dedicated to my husband, Peter, who sacrificed time from his own career to accompany me to Tunisia, London, and Rome to complete the research for this book, and who is also a great line editor as well as an unflagging supporter of this book and my career. I am also grateful to our young children, Sebastian and Simon Dizikes, for brightening our lives and keeping everything in perspective. Sebastian, almost five years old, recently started asking me, “Mommy, did you finish your book today?” Now I can finally answer “Yes.”

Cambridge, Massachusetts

March 2013