Study the interplay of politics, mass migration, and religion at the crossroads of the Mediterranean region in Tunisia and Italy. Learn French or Arabic.
16
None
French, Arabic
English
Feb 1 – May 16
Tunisia
Italy
Sidi Bou Said
Varies
Identity & Human Resilience
Geopolitics & Power
Tunisia and Italy sit at the crossroads of the Mediterranean region. Here, you will study the interplay between migration, regional politics, and religious relations. In Tunis, the country’s capital, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, you will examine Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution and peaceful transition to democracy. During a three-week excursion to Sicily, a port of call for irregular migrants, you will explore issues of migration, meet with NGO activists and migrants and hear harrowing stories of the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea on makeshift boats. During the excursion to the south of Tunisia, you will visit the UNESCO World Heritage holy sites of Kairouan and spend nights in Amazigh troglodytes (cave dwellings) and on the UNESCO World Heritage Island of Djerba with its oldest synagogue (El-Ghriba) in the world and characteristic Abadi mosques. On the way back to Tunis, you will spend a night in the coastal city of Mahdia, the capital of the oldest Shia Dynasty in Islamic history.
None. The program is of interest to students studying political science, international relations, international studies, migration and refugee studies, European studies, Middle Eastern Studies, religious studies, global studies, sociology, and anthropology. Students with some background in French will be able to practice at their homestay in Tunis.
Students studying on this SIT semester-length program can choose to simultaneously complete a minor, with no additional coursework or cost. At SIT, a minor is a minimum of 16 credits taken within a content area. This standout credential can help boost your future job or graduate school applications.
SIT's program in Tunisia offers the choice to do a minor in Mediterranean studies or international studies. You'll develop analytical skills in migration policy analysis, democratic transitions, and interfaith relations while engaging with civil society organizations, migrants, and NGO activists in Tunisia and Sicily. Through coursework on Euro-Mediterranean politics and migration governance, field visits to religious heritage sites and migration support organizations, and your Independent Study Project or internship, you'll examine democratic consolidation, irregular migration patterns, European Union asylum policies, and religious integration while analyzing how political transitions and cross-Mediterranean migration shape contemporary regional dynamics.
This incredible three-week excursion is based in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, with easy access to Cefalù, one of the country’s most beautiful villages; Taormina, a town of medieval and picturesque splendor; Catania, in the shadow of Mt. Etna; and Bagheria, famous for its 18th-century Baroque villas. Sicily boasts a remarkable historical past that includes Punic, Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, and Spanish civilizations. With an African and Oriental atmosphere, Palermo is at the crossroads of many worlds.
Visit the holy city of Kairouan, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Built in the 7th century, it was the first Muslim settlement in North Africa. Visit El Jem’s Roman amphitheater, the third largest in the world.
On the island of Djerba, a UNESCO World Heritage since 2023, you’ll visit Turkish and Spanish forts, Africa’s oldest synagogue, and a Talmudic school in the Jewish quarter. Meet with local residents of the community to learn about religious integration in the region.
You will spend one night in a troglodyte dwelling in a traditional Berber mountain village called Matmata, used as the set for the planet Tatooine in Star Wars.
Please note that SIT will make every effort to maintain its programs as described. To respond to emergent situations, however, SIT may have to change or cancel programs.
Upon successful completion of the program, students will be able to:
The following syllabi are representative of this program. Because courses develop and change over time to take advantage of dynamic learning opportunities, actual course content will vary from term to term.
The syllabi can be useful for students, faculty, and study abroad offices in assessing credit transfer. Read more about credit transfer.
Immigration, Politics, and Religion in the Euro-Mediterranean Space – syllabus
(MDES/EURO 3500 / 3 credits)
Mass migration across the Euro-Mediterranean region has refocused the debate on Europe’s absorption capacity and immigrant integration. This interdisciplinary seminar takes Sicily as a case study to analyze the underpinnings of EU “open-door” policy and its impact on immigrant and religious “integration” and social cohesions in Europe. Students critically interrogate the viability of the nation-state as an integrative political category, analyze ways in which immigrant religious identity interacts with the idea of a laic Europe, and revisit conceptual articulations of the notions of citizenship and multiculturalism in light of political and cultural hegemonies based on the exclusion and marginalization of “otherness.” Lectures and field visits will also allow students to examine pressing issues of language and identity, Islam and religious affiliation as they interact with European secular modernity and impact subjectivity, political engagement, and integration. Contra the assimilationist discourse about exclusion, students are encouraged to think through counter-hegemonic ethics of inclusive solidarities. This seminar is delivered during the excursion to Italy.
Politics, Civil Society, and Migration in Tunisia – syllabus
(MDES3000 / 3 credits)
This interdisciplinary seminar addresses ways in which government politics and civil society action influence human mobility in Tunisia and the Middle East and North Africa region. The succession of revolutions in the region and the disintegration of authoritarianism in Tunisia and its replacement by nascent democracy have not only accented human mobility across North Africa and Europe but also created a new legal, economic, cultural, and political framework to deal with it. The seminar explores the diverse roles of state and civil society in the democratization process and shows the treatment of migration is shifting from the perspective of European safety and security to immigrant human rights and integration of asylum seekers. The dynamic role played by Tunisian NGOs explains the success of democratic transition and testifies to the humane and multifaceted question of human mobility in the region today.
Beginning Modern Standard Arabic – syllabus
ARAB1003-1503 / 3 credits)
Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic – syllabus
(ARAB2003-2503 / 3 credits)
Advanced Modern Standard Arabic – syllabus
(ARAB3003-3503 / 3 credits)
The Modern Standard Arabic course focuses on speaking, reading, and writing skills through classroom instruction, with additional opportunities for language learning with homestay families and on educational excursions. Students are placed in beginning, intermediate, or advanced classes, based on in-country evaluation, including oral proficiency testing. A short, non-credit introduction to Tunisian Colloquial Arabic is included in all language levels.
Intermediate French: French in Tunisian Contexts – syllabus
(FREN2003–2503 / 3 credits)
Advanced French: North African Francophone Literature – syllabus
(FREN3003–3503 / 3 credits)
This intensive course prepares students to use French in daily communication in Tunisia. Another major aim of the course is to facilitate access to the Tunisian host culture. The course emphasizes the development of speaking and comprehension competencies. Reading and writing are also fostered, but chiefly to complement verbal proficiency and speech comprehension. Cultural context is built into the course. All of the four fundamental communicative skills of speech, comprehension, reading, and writing are imparted through traditional classroom instruction, field-based activities, and continuing homestay practice. Students are placed into appropriate language course levels based on estimated-ACTFL oral proficiency interviews and written exams (placement tests) conducted during orientation in Tunisia. The course is taught over nine weeks by highly experienced teachers who have specifically designed a reading manual for the learning needs unique to French students in Tunisia.
Choose one of the following two courses:
Social Science Methods and Ethics in Global Contexts – syllabus
(RSCH3500 / 3 credits)
This course is designed to introduce you to the methodological tools deployed by social scientists to conduct empirically grounded and theoretically engaged research. The course will cover the basic elements of research design, the role of theory in empirical research, and the ethics for social scientific research, with particular attention to the complex ethical considerations that arise when conducting research in international and cross-cultural contexts. Students will gain hands-on experience with both basic quantitative and qualitative methods, with the flexibility to emphasize their preferred methodological approach in their final work. Using this project-based approach, the course will prepare you to design and execute social science research projects while developing competency across methodological traditions.
OR
Global Organizational Culture and Ethics – syllabus
(GOCE3500/3 credits)
This course equips students to engage meaningfully and ethically in internship experiences across diverse sociopolitical, cultural, environmental, and global contexts. Using a critical, practice-based approach, students examine the nature and purpose of internships as transformative experiential learning opportunities that connect to the program’s Critical Global Issue theme. Emphasis is placed on navigating workplace and organizational cultures, reflecting on identity and positionality in professional settings, and applying ethical principles to working globally with communities, individuals, and environments—particularly in collaboration with vulnerable populations and in sensitive ecological or habitat settings.
Independent Study Project
Independent Study Project – syllabus
(ISPR3000 / 4 credits)
Conducted in Tunis or in another approved location appropriate to the project. Sample topic areas: role of women’s organizations in transforming feminist discourse; street art before and after the Tunisian revolution; reproductive health in Tunisia; illegal immigration from Tunisia after the Jasmine Revolution; political Islam in Tunisia; political agency among young people in post-revolutionary Tunisia; humanitarian efforts in Tunisia; political self-education among Tunisia’s youth.
Some topics students may want to explore as ISPs are:
Browse this program’s Independent Study Projects / undergraduate research.
OR
Internship and Seminar
Internship and Seminar – syllabus
(ITRN3000 / 4 credits)
This seminar consists of a four-week internship with a local community organization, research organization, business, or international NGO. The aim of an internship is to enable students to gain valuable work experience and enhance their skills in an international work environment. Specifically, students will conduct an internship in the context of social and political transition in Tunisia, and a focus will be on linking internship learning with the program’s critical global issue, Migration | Identity | Resilience. The seminar includes regular reflection and assessment meetings with the academic director to review the progress of the internship and learning associated with the internship experience. Students complete a substantial academic paper in which they process their learning experience on the job, analyze an issue important to the organization, and/or design a socially responsible solution to a problem identified by the organization. Students also conduct an oral presentation of their internship experience and findings.
Sample internships:
You will participate in a six-week homestay in greater Tunis with a host family familiar in the centuries-old Mediterranean towns of La Marsa, Sidi Bou Said, or Carthage. Students completing Independent Study Projects or internships in Tunis may extend their homestay by four weeks.
The homestay experience will help you explore program themes and get a taste of daily life in modern Tunisia. You can practice Arabic and French with your host family, visit local sites and gain a better understanding of local perspectives regarding democratic transition, migration, and Mediterranean politics.
Other accommodations include hostels, small hotels, or independent apartments while on excursion to Italy.
A diversity of students representing different colleges, universities, and majors study abroad on this program. Many of them have gone on to do amazing things that connect back to their experience abroad with SIT. Recent positions held by alumni of this program include:
Journalist with ABC’s Eyewitness News, New York, NY
High school teacher
Intern at Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, Scotland
Volunteer with the Peace Corps
SIT Study Abroad is committed to ensuring that international education is within reach for all students. We believe in the transformative power of immersive, intercultural experiences and are dedicated to supporting students in their educational journey.
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Depending on your passport of origin, you may need a visa for this program. Please contact your admissions officer for more information.
