Key words: genealogy, women, law, name, kinship

Dr. Marta Arena
Nationality: Italian
Date of birth : 24 October 1976
Mail : [email protected]
Education
2004 - ongoing
PhD candidate in Social Anthropology and Ethnology, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale
(LAS), Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris
Supervisor: Prof. Pierre Bonte (d. 2013) and E. Porqueres I Gené
Title of the thesis : “The attribution of the father’s name to single mothers’ children in
Tunisia”.
2009 PhD in Comparative Law (Islamic law), University of Turin.
Thesis : “Out of wedlock descent in Tunisian law”
In the catalogue of the libraries : EUI - European University Institute (Fiesole), UNICEF Innocenti Research
Center (Florence), Institut suisse de droit comparé (Lausanne), Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de
l’Homme – Aix en Provence.
2006- Arabic 1st and 2nd year, Faculty of Philosophy and Literature, University of Turin.
2004
2003 Master in Social Anthropology and Ethnology, EHESS, Paris.
2002 Master in African Studies, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris.
Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Juridique de Paris 1, LAJP
2001 Summer school. The Hague Academy of International Law. Public International Law
lectures, The Hague.
2001 Law degree, University of Turin
(110/110 e lode e dignità di stampa)
Dissertation: “The adoption in Italy and France of children coming from Muslim countries”.
In the catalogue of: PISAI, Pontificio Istituto di Studi Arabi e d’Islamistica (Rome).
1998/1999
Université Lyon III, Lyon. ERASMUS Program. Diplôme d’histoire des idées politiques.
April 1998
Faculté internationale de droit comparé, Strasbourg. Cours de droit comparé. 1er cycle.
Fieldwork
March – May 2013 (6 weeks)
Tunisia. “Rechtskulturen” Postdoctoral Program research project: interviewing single mothers.
Host Institute in Tunis: Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC).
February and May – July 2012
Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC) (Ambassy of France), Tunis: resident
scholar. Short-term grant.
January 2007 – July 2008
Tunisia. Fieldwork: interviewed single mothers. Participant observation with NGOs in Tunis (AMAL,
AAINPE and Voix de l’Enfant in Nabeul). Collected articles and legislation in Arabic and French
Research Funding :
 Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs – Cultural Cooperation and Ambassy of Tunisia
Scholarship
 Grant for research support, Université Italo-Française, Turin-Grenoble.
Work experience
1 January – ongoing
Researcher ANR Kinsources, fixed-term part-time contract (Xuetas Corpus).
Collège de France, 11 Place Marcellin Berthelot, 75005 Paris.
PhD candidate, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale (LAS), EHESS-Collège de France, Paris
Research group : Anthropologie comparative des sociétés musulmanes.
LAS, 52 Rue du Cardinal-Lemoine, 75005 Paris.
1 September 2013 – 31 December 2013
Visiting researcher. Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies (BGSMCS), Institute of
Islamic Studies, FREIE University, Berlin
BGSMCS, Altensteinstr. 48, 14195 Berlin.
01 October 2012 – 31 July 2013
Fellow.
Postdoctoral
Program “Rechtskulturen:
Confrontations
beyond
Comparison”,
Forum Transregionale Studien: Humboldt University, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
Research Project: “The single mother’s networks of proximity in Tunisia“
Rechtskulturen, Humboldt Universität, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin.
1 August – 30 September 2012
PhD candidate. LAS, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale, EHESS-Collège de France, Paris.
February and 15 May – 31 July 2012
Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC) : resident scholar. Short-term grant
IRMC, 20 Rue Mohammed Ali Tahar, 1002 Tunis.
16 February 2010 – 15 May 2012
Program Specialist. Managing Authority for the EU Structural Funds UE (ERDF : European
Regional Development Fund), Operational Program 2007/13 : Program Specialist
 Projects development
 In charge of the evaluation activity for the program
Département Affaires Européennes, Région Autonome de la Vallée d’Aoste, 2, place de
l’Académie de Saint-Anselme, 11100 Aoste.
1 October 2004 – 31 August 2009
Fellow (cultore della materia) in Islamic Law and African Law, University of Turin:

Lecturer in Islamic Law in replacement of Prof. R. Aluffi

Tutor for students’ bachelor dissertations on African issues: the inception of the African Union; the role
of regional organizations in African conflicts; traditional justice and the gaçaça tribunals in Rwanda; Senegal rules
on marriage.

Lecturer in Methodology of Research Workshops.
Università degli Studi di Torino, 8 Via Verdi, 10124 Turin.
1 Octobre 2002 – 30 May 2004 :
Reader in Italian language
Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1 Place du Panthéon, 75005 Paris.
1 Octobre 1999 – 30 May 2001
Comunardi Bookshop, Via Bogino 9, Turin. Shop assistant (20h/week).
Languages
Mother Tongue
French:
English:
Standard Arabic:
Tunisian Arabic :
German:
Italian
Proficient User C2
Proficient User C1
Independent User B2 (Reading) B1 (Speaking)
Institut Bourguiba, Intensive Arabic Sessions, 500 h, Level 1 and 2
Independent User B1
Basic User A1
Conferences and seminars (selection)
2013 11 December, BGSMCS, Berlin. Seminar: Nasab and proximity networks in Tunisia.
2013, 5 December, Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies (BGSMCS), Berlin.
Workshop: Theory and practice in Pierre Bourdieu,
2013, 9-10 September, “Anthropologie du Maghreb et du Maroc”, Centre Jacques Berque,
Essaouira - Rabat. “Nasab harām, laqab halāl”: perceptions de sa maternité et des origines
de son enfant chez les mères célibataires en Tunisie suite à l’attribution du laqab paternel.
2013, 5-10 August, 17th World Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and
Ethnological Sciences (IUAES), University of Manchester, Manchester.
2013, 24 June, Institute for Islamic Studies, FREIE University, Berlin. Looking for a way out of
prejudice and marginalization: the use of law 75/98 by single mothers in Tunisia.
2013, 20-21 June, Institute for Islamic Studies, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg.
Children, parents, society: about wedlock and filiation in Tunisia.
2013, 21
May,
Institute
of
Social
Anthropology,
The single mother’s networks of proximity in Tunis.
University
of
Bern,
Bern.
2012, 15 May, Seminar “Anthropologie comparative des sociétés musulmanes”,
Collège de France, Paris, Mobiliser le droit du statut personnel en Tunisie (la politique, les
acteurs).
2011, 27-29 June BRISMES (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Annual Conf., Exeter,
The making of genealogy through the father’s name : nasab in contemporary Tunisia.
2011, 22 February Radio3Mondo RADIO 3, RAI (Italian National Broadcaster), Rome, Research
is not a waste of time: research in Tunisia in the time of Ben cAly.
2007, 6-8 November Université Sorbonne International Conference, Paris, L’introduction de
l’adoption dans le droit de la famille tunisien.
2005 Association Française pour l’Etude du Monde Arabe et Musulman (AFEMAM), Strasbourg.
Membership
EASA
SeSaMO
European Association of Social Anthropologists.
Società Italiana di Studi sul Medio Oriente.
Internships
June – September 2001, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Migration Policies Department. Rome.
July – October 1999, Médecins du Monde (ONG), Legal Department, Paris.
Scholarship
1995-2000
University of Turin. Best students’ annual scholarship.