Immigration, Integration and Interculturality in Tunisia

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue VI, June 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Immigration, Integration and Interculturality in Tunisia

Wafa Touihri
Department of sociology of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tunis

Abstract
Purpose: Our current study is dedicated to an illustration of the question related to the integration of immigrant students from sub-Saharan Africa within the Tunisian system of higher education.
Our target integration model transcends the functionalist determinist approach; it is not assimilation that fuses all subjects into one single entity nor communitarianism that maintains ethnic barriers above mixture and unanimity.
Methods: This qualitative study was carried out among 100 students enrolled in the top three accessible multicultural private Tunisian universities. To analyze the relations between native immigrant students, we have devoted second criteria forming thus two case studies: there are two groups of students (a group of 50 Tunisian students and another group of 50 students with different sub-Saharan African nationalities.
Results: The process of integrating subjects from different yet similar cultures, in this case, sub-Saharan African students, is an anthropological process seeking to put cul-tural diversity at the service of an inclusive environment with a new cultural code. The metaphor of the bridge between cultures is no longer valid; the focus is rather on the concept of the salad bowl integrating different cultures. University experience consti-tutes a key element to achieve professional insertion concerning the future of students.

Keywords:Immigration, integration, functionalism, interactionism, interculturality

1.Introduction

A reflection on this matter was induced by a curious phenomenon indicating the pres-ence of a conspicuous « strange body » for more than a decade composed of students coming in large numbers from sub-Saharan Africa for education purposes and are en-rolled in Tunisian private universities. Four key factors paved the way for the emergence of a new reality through which Tunisia has today become a destination for immigrant workers (Nasraoui., 2017). This phenomenon started with relocating the African Devel-opment Bank ( ADB ) to Tunis in 2003 and 2014 . The second factor revolves around the measure adopted by the Tunisian authorities: removing the visa requirements for many sub-Saharan citizens ( from Ivory Coast , Senegal , Mali , Nigeria , etc. ) . Another factor consists in the establishment of around sixty private institutes in the three Tunisian megapoleis ( Tunis , Sousse , Sfax ) within few years . These institutes, designed mainly to recruit francophone students , have facilitated the integration of sub-Saharan students in Tunisia . The third factor has to do with the civil war in Libya that provoked numerous attempts of irregular migration of sub-Saharan Africans to Italy from either the Libyan or the Tunisian coastlines. This has transformed Tunisia into « a conventional destina-tion for migration , like other North African countries ,

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