Regaining independence by each country (Tunisia, Morocco 1956, Algeria 1962) and the publication of relevant documents (codes of family law, constitutions) created opportunities to speak more widely about social and economic rights, or about political rights for women. However, the rights granted to women were characterized by the principle of inequality, especially in Algeria and Morocco. In this difficult and complex situation, the emancipation movement of women went through various phases. In Algeria, its strength began to appear at the turn of the seventies and eighties of the twentieth century and has been constantly increased. In Morocco, in principle, the awakening took place in the early nineties of the twentieth century. Women themselves played a significant role in the activities for emancipation, engaging in various undertakings, organizations and associations, and in activating Non Profit Organizations (Organisation Non-Gouvernementale -ONG) with women participation from the end of the 80s of the twentieth century, which, in its turn, created opportunities for legal reforms, which would not exist without activities carried out by various associations, including women’s associations. The Jasmine Revolution, also known as the Arabic spring, was initiated in Tunisia, and has had a significant impact on the contemporary activities of women.

Over 130 species are documented from the Upper Albian, Cenomanian and Upper Turonian Fahdène Formation and correlatives in Central Tunisia and northern Algeria, based on material described by Henri Coquand (1852, 1854, 1862, 1880), Léon Pervinquière (1907, 1910), Georges Dubourdieu (1953), Jacques Sornay (1955), and new collections. The material consists predominantly of limonitic nuclei, together with adults of micromorphs. There is no continuous record, and a series of faunas are recognised that can be correlated with the zonation developed in Western Europe. These are the Upper Albian Ostlingoceras puzosianum fauna, Lower Cenomanian Neostlingoceras carcitanense and Mariella (Mariella) harchaensis faunas, the upper Lower to lower Middle Cenomanian Turrilites scheuchzerianus fauna, Middle Cenomanian Calycoceras (Newboldiceras) asiaticum fauna, Upper Cenomanian Eucalycoceras pentagonum fauna, and the Upper Turonian Subprionocyclus neptuni fauna. Two new micromorph genera are described, Coquandiceras of the Mantelliceratinae and Cryptoturrilites of the Turrilitinae. Most of the taxa present have a cosmopolitan distribution, with a minority of Boreal, North American and endemic taxa.

Tunisian women folk songs have not found themselves among those subject matters enjoying a large amount of interest on the part of scholars, although attitudes in academic circles towards this area of folklore differ. Recently, however, a gradual increase of interest in folk songs can be noticed. Researchers have become aware of the importance of exploring folk songs both with respect to their contents and language. Hopefully this will lead to an increase in scholarly research in this field.

We used simple sequence repeat markers and 25 morphological characters to characterize 18 Tunisian fig (Ficus carica L.) cultivars. Morphological traits suggested a high level of variation in the germplasm. Principal component analysis (PCA) differentiated the studied cultivars. In the derived dendrogram the cultivars clustered independently of their geographical origin and sex of trees. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to compare genetic polymorphism with the observed phenotypic variation. Using six microsatellite primers, 39 alleles and 59 genotypes were identified. The high values of polymorphism information content (PIC), ranging from 0.67 to 0.85, confirmed the effectiveness of microsatellite analysis for determining molecular polymorphism and characterizing the studied cultivars. Multilocus genotyping unambiguously distinguished all the cultivars. The ability of each type of feature to differentiate cultivars of this crop is discussed.

Giorgio Maria Ciaceri was a Jesuit missionary from Sicily who spent about ten years in North Africa during the mid Nineteenth century. From his Jesuit center located near Algiers, he travelled all over Algeria and arrived until Tunis where he spent the last period of his journey. His travelogue, published in 1885–86, is almost unknown to scholarly research and is a very rich source for anthropological, ethnographical, historical, social, religious and linguistic information about the countries and the cultures he visited. The present article deals with his travelogue and attempts to draw the attention to some aspects of his work and in particular to the linguistic issues that it contains.

Jonas Hassen Khemiri, born in 1978, is one of the most interesting contemporary Swedish and European writers with a Tunisian immigrant background. His second novel Montecore: en unik tiger ( Montecore: The Silence of the Tiger), published in 2006, has got an epistolary form deducted from the exchange of letters between Kadir and Jonas. However, the main character of the novel is Abbas Khemiri – the disappearing, estranged father of Jonas – a figure close to the real writer. Khemiri’s book has got an innovative linguistic form and contains many erudite references to the phenomena of popular culture. It is also a complex portrayal of the different generations of (mainly Arab-based) immigrant and post-immigrant communities in Sweden coupled with a nuanced look on bright and dark sides of the Swedish state, model of identity and integration. This material is enriched by the examples taken from Khemiri’s novel Everything I Don’t Remember and short story As You Would Have Told It To Me (Sort Of) If We Had Known Each Other Before You Died.