Lecture Series on Arts, Cultures, Policies & Educational Practices #5

Speaker: Meriam Bousselmi (Tunisia) 

Moderation: Franzi Cagić

Meriam Bousselmi has been a lawyer registered to the National Order of Lawyers of Tunisia since 2010. Trained to work in different contexts and languages, she works as an international jurist, writer, director, cultural expert and mediator. Her academic and artistic research focuses on empowerment and resistance narratives, as well as Cultural Diversity and Artistic Freedom. As part of her PhD thesis at the University of Hildesheim, she is conducting research on the Staging of Justice and the Relationship between Justice and Theatre.

Lecture: The Mergoum Protocol: Typically Tunisian, (A)typically German? On Cross-Cultural Exchange 

The Mergoum is a typical Tunisian handwoven rug. It’s produced through a set of mixed Arab-Berberian weaving techniques meticulously handed down from generation to generation. It’s a whole transmission philosophy. The weavers must observe a rigorous protocol that highlights the local cultural ethics. Assuming that Cross-Cultural Exchange is a kind of meta-weaving, what can we learn from the techniques and values of Mergoum weavers? And could we break free from our narrow culture-bound ways of interacting with the world in order to open up for a transformative dialogue?

photo: courtesy of the speaker