Social Change and Shifts in Sociology in Tunisia

The work of decolonization requires looking at Sociology from all perspectives. Historically, the association of theories with white male figures such as Marx, Weber and others and the questions and concepts they generated reflecting their own times, often obscures the ways in which these producers of theoretical perspectives are themselves reflections of the institutions in which they were enmeshed. Here, drawing on the research of Tunisian social scientists I argue that the link between social change, specifically the establishment or change in institutions, and what kind of activities they promote, lead to changing emphases in of sociological knowledge passages through mediations, through media, and through intermediaries. Examining the trajectory of Tunisian Sociology, I illustrate this reflexive link between social change and the structures under girding sociological knowledge.