Mohamed Hédi Chérif () (23 July 1932 – 23 January 2021) was a Tunisian historian and academic. He specialized in the modern and contemporary history of

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

Biography

After his studies at Sadiki College and the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

, he earned an

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

in history in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and a doctorate from the Sorbonne in 1979. He was a researcher at the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...

from 1970 to 1974 before becoming a professor at the for over thirty years. He served as dean from 1987 to 1990. A professor emeritus at

Tunis University Tunis University (, ) is a public university in Tunis, Tunisia. It was founded in 1960 on the basis of earlier educational establishments. The University of Tunis is a member of the Mediterranean University Union (UNIMED) and of Agence univers ...

, he was a member of the Tunisian Council for Scientific and Technological Research, as well as a founding member of the

Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts The Beit al-Hikma Foundation (shortened to Beit al-Hikma) or Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts is a scholarly national academy based in Tunis. It is housed officially in a mid-19th century palace, Carthage Royal Palace, Zarrouk Pala ...

. He worked several times as a visiting professor in

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. He also coordinated the Tunisian Republic's microfilming efforts at the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, to repatriate the archives of colonialism to Tunisia, and directed the history department at the . He once served as Editor-in-Chief of '. Chérif was one of the founders of the General Union of Higher Education and Scientific Research at the

Tunisian General Labour Union The Tunisian General Labour Union (, ''UGTT''. ) is a national trade union center in Tunisia. It has a membership of more than one million and was founded on January 20, 1946. The UGTT is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederatio ...

and was a recruiter for Tunisian higher education. In 1987, he was appointed to the committee on awarding the literature and arts prize of the Tunisian Ministry of Culture. He was very well known for his research on the

Husainid dynasty The Husainid dynasty or Husaynid dynasty () was a ruling Turkish dynasty of the Beylik of Tunis. The dynasty was of Greek origin from the island of Crete. It came to power under al-Husayn I ibn Ali in 1705, succeeding the Muradid dynasty. Af ...

. Mohamed Hédi Chérif died on 23 January 2021 at the age of 88.

Honours

*Officier (1969), then Commander of the Order of the Tunisian Republic (1971) *Officier of the National Order of Merit of Tunisia (1992) *Commander of the (2013) *Knight of the National Order for work (Tunisia)

Publications

*(1980) ''تاريخ تونس : من عصور ما قبل التاريخ إلى الإستقلال'' *''Pouvoir et société dans la Tunisie de H'usayn Bin Ali (1705-1740)'' (1984) *''Histoire générale de l'Afrique, t. VI : L'Afrique au XIXe jusque vers les années 1880'' (1996) *''Histoire générale de l'Afrique, t. V : L'Afrique du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle'' (1999) *''Individu et pouvoir dans les pays islamo-méditerranéens'' (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherif, Mohamed Hedi 1932 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Tunisian historians Alumni of Sadiki College Academic staff of Tunis University French National Centre for Scientific Research scientists Members of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts 21st-century Tunisian historians