Tarek Kahlaoui

Ahmed Medien | 23 September 2011 | 1 Comment

Tarek Kahlaoui in an assistant professor of Islamic art and Islamic history at Rutgers University, New Jersey. He focuses on Islamic cartography, urbanism, and codicology, and he has taken part in excavations in Islamic and ancient sites in Tunisia. Kahlouai has lectured in various countries, including the US, Italy, Morocco, Switzerland and Montreal. He has also written articles for academic journals, including “Towards Reconstructing the Muqaddima and the Idrisian World Map” (Journal of North African Studies) and “Tracing Urbanization in Modern Jerba” (Mediterranean Medina).

Tarek Kahlaoui wrote his dissertation on “The Depiction of the Mediterranean in Islamic Cartography” (11th to 16th century), and currently teaches courses on Islamic art, architecture, and Islamic history. Kahlaoui regularly comments on events related to the Islamic World, for example on Al-Hayat, Al Jazeera, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Arab News, and Middle East Online, and he writes a weekly column for the Qatari newspaper Al-Arab. Kahlaoui also writes articles for the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat about Islamic art and archaeology, and for the Lebanese magazine Al-Adab, mostly about contemporary Islam.

During Ben Ali’s rule, Kahlaoui was harassed given his liberal ideas and his criticism of the regime, primarily voiced through his blog “Afkar Laylia” or “Nocturnal life”. His blog and writings were banned and censored all over Tunisia.

After the revolution, Kahlaoui came back to the Tunisian media scene, and is now heading an independent list in the Ben Arous district, a crucial voting district represented by ten seats.

Tarek Kahlaoui’s independent list won a seat in the district and therefore he is now a member of the constituent assembly that will draft a new constitution for Tunisia.

Sources:

http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/theme/12/experts.html

http://open.salon.com/blog/tkahlaoui

http://www.tekiano.com/net/7-web-2-0/4251-tunisie-quatre-blogueurs-candidats-a-la-constituante.htm l

https://www.facebook.com/TarekKahlaoui

http://tareknightlife.blogspot.com/