Una testimonianza silenziosa.Storia della Chiesa cattolica in Tunisia dal Trattato del Bardo alla ‘rivoluzione dei gelsomini’

The work examines the change involving the Church in Tunisia from the period of the Protectorate to the present through the fundamental moments of independence (1956) and the signing of the ‘Modus vivendi’ (1964). In the first structure of the “modern” Church, a fundamental role was played by the complex figure of the French Cardinal Charles-Allemand Lavigerie who, while giving strong impulse to setting up disinterested charitable social initiatives by the congregations (Pères Blancs, Soeurs Blanches and others), also represented the ideal of the ‘evangelizing’ (as well as colonial) Church which, despite its declared will to avoid proselytism, almost inevitably tended to slip into it. During the French Protectorate (1881-1956) the ecclesiastic institution concentrated strongly on itself, with little heed for the sensitivity of its host population, and developed its activities as if it were in a European country. From the social standpoint, the Church was mostly involved in teaching, which followed the French model, and health facilities. In the Church only the Pères Blancs missionaries were sincerely committed to promoting awareness of the local context and dialogue with the Muslims. The Catholic clergy in the country linked its religious activity close to the policy of the Protectorate, in the hope of succeeding in returning to the ancient “greatness of the African Church”, as the Eucharistic Congress in Carthage in 1930 made quite clear. The Congress itself planted the first seed in the twentyfive- year struggle that led the Tunisian population to independence in 1956 and the founding of the Republic in 1957. The conquest of independence and the ‘Modus vivendi’ marked a profound change in the situation and led to an inversion of roles: the Catholic community was given the right to exist only on the condition that it should not interfere in Tunisian society. The political project of Bourguiba, who led the Republic from 1957 to 1987, aimed to create a strongly egalitarian society, with a separation between political and religious powers. In particular, in referring to the Church, he appeared as a secularist with no hostility towards the Catholics who were, however, considered as “cooperators”, welcome so long as they were willing to place their skills at the service of the construction of the state. So, in the catholic Community was a tension between the will of being on the side of the country and that of conserving a certain distance from it and not being an integral part of it. In this process of reflection, the role of the Second Vatican Council was fundamental: it spread the idea of a Church open to the world and the other religions, in particular to Islam: the teaching of the Council led the congregations present in the country to accept the new condition. This new Church that emerged from the Council saw some important events in the process of “living together”, of “cultural mixing” and the search for a common ground between different realities. The almost contemporary arrival of Arab bishops raised awareness among the Tunisians of the existence of Christian Arabs and, at the same time, the Catholic community began considering their faith in a different way. In the last twenty years the situation has continued to change. Side by side with the priests present for decades or even those born there, some new congregations have begun to operate, albeit in small numbers: they have certainly revitalized the community of the faithful, but they sometimes appear more devoted to service “within” the Church, than to services for the population, and are thus characterized by exterior manifestations of their religion. This sort of presence has made it possible for Bourguiba's successor, Ben Ali (president from 1987 to 2011), to practice forms of tolerance even more clearly, but always limited to formal relations; the Tunisians are still far from having a real understanding of the Catholic reality, with certain exceptions connected to relations on a personal and not structured plane, as was the case in the previous period. The arrival of a good number of young people from sub-Saharan Africa, most of all students, belonging to the JCAT, and personnel of the BAD has “Africanized” the Church in Tunisia and has brought about an increase in Christians' exterior manifestations; but this is a visibility that is not blatant but discreet, with the implicit risk of the Church continuing to be perceived as a sort of exterior body, alien to the country; nor can we say, lacking proper documentation, how it will be possible to build a bridge between different cultures through the “accompaniment” of Christian wives of Tunisians. Today, the Church is living in a country that has less and less need of it; its presence, in the schools and in health facilities, is extremely reduced. And also in other sectors of social commitment, such as care for the disabled, the number of clergymen involved is quite small. The ‘revolution’ in 2011 and the later developments up to the present have brought about another socio-political change, characterized by a climate of greater freedom, but with as yet undefinable contours. This change in the political climate will inevitable have consequences in Tunisia’s approach to religious and cultural minorities, but it is far too soon to discuss this on the historical and scientific planes.

Medici del corpo contro terapeuti della parola: una riflessione su medicina e sofistica

The aim of the present paper is to investigate the connection between ancient medicine and sophistry at the end of 5th century B.C. Beginning with analyses of some passages from the De vetere medicina (VM), De natura hominis (NH) and De arte, the article identifies many similarities between these treatises, on the one hand, and the sophistic doctrines, on the other: these concern primarily perceptual/intellectual knowledge and the interaction between reality, knowledge and language. Among the Sophists, Gorgias was particularly followed and imitated, as he was admired not only for his tremendous rhetorical skills, but also for his philosophically significant work On not being, which probably influenced various discussions in the Hippocratic treatises. However, if Gorgias argues in favor of language as dynastēs megas, the authors of VM, NH and De arte consider knowledge to be far more relevant and reliable than logos. These Hippocratic treatises criticize the philosophical thesis and the resulting kind of reductionism. Above all they defend the supremacy of medicine over any other art. By using the same argumentative and rhetorical strategies that were employed by Gorgias, these treatises reverse the thought of those Sophists who exalted only the technē tōn logōn.

[Book review] Psicologia Della Prova [Psychology of Proof]

Review of: Psicologia Della Prova [Psychology of Proof] edited by C. Cabras, Giuffré, Milano. 1996.

[Book review] Piero della Francesca: A Mathematician's art by J.V. Field, Yale University Press.

Review of the book 'Piero della Francesca: A Mathematician’s Art' by J.V. Field, Yale University Press, 420 pp, £35 ISBN 0300103425.

Della Robbia Tabernacle

Detail from the Della Robbia Tabernacle. 15th Century Painted Sculpture

Per una genealogia della giustizia penale internazionale: ambiguita' e paradossi

This article aims to consider the role for a critical criminology outside the national dimension, highlighting its continuities with studies in the critical tradition which have suggested the need to address State criminality and criminogenic structures more in general, but also suggesting a critique of international criminal law as a governmentality project.It reconstructs the genealogy of the international criminal justice system, following on from Schmitt and other well known authors, but it focuses in specific on its paradoxes, contradictions and ambiguities rather than its purely political effect. The authors argue that critical criminologists should engage with the international dimension of crime and control and approach this venture of a international criminal justice system as the possibility of “telling the truth” about State atrocities without missing on using strategically the category of human rights and law to bring to the fore minoritarian interests which are
usually denied by power discourses and economic forces.

SN 2004aw: confirming diversity of Type Ic supernovae

Optical and near-infrared (near-IR) observations of the Type Ic supernova (SN Ic) 2004aw are presented, obtained from -3 to +413 d with respect to the B-band maximum. The photometric evolution is characterized by a comparatively slow post-maximum decline of the light curves. The peaks in redder bands are significantly delayed relative to the bluer bands, the I-band maximum occurring 8.4 d later than that in B. With an absolute peak magnitude of -18.02 in the V band the SN can be considered fairly bright, but not exceptional. This also holds for the U through I bolometric light curve, where SN 2004aw has a position intermediate between SNe 2002ap and 1998bw. Spectroscopically SN 2004aw provides a link between a normal SN Ic like SN 1994I and the group of broad-lined SNe Ic. The spectral evolution is rather slow, with a spectrum at day +64 being still predominantly photospheric. The shape of the nebular [O-I] lambda lambda 6300, 6364 line indicates a highly aspherical explosion. Helium cannot be unambiguously identified in the spectra, even in the near-IR. Using an analytical description of the light-curve peak we find that the total mass of the ejecta in SN 2004aw is 3.5-8.0 M-circle dot, significantly larger than that in SN 1994I, although not as large as in SN 1998bw. The same model suggests that about 0.3 M-circle dot of Ni-56 has been synthesized in the explosion. No connection to a GRB can be firmly established.