Waiting for Utopia. Young Tunisians, Salafism, and the Post-revolutionary Transition

In this article I consider the connection between Islam and utopia, using the renewed visibility that Islamic actors and moral economies have gained in the post-revolutionary Tunisian public sphere as a starting point. In particular, based on ethnographic findings from field research in Tunisia, I take into account the interest in Salafism expressed by young Muslims, recently fascinated by the Salafi tradition even if not necessarily joining any formal Salafi organization. The recovery of an original and mythical perfection, rooted in the example of the ancestors (the salaf), that is, the Prophet and his Companions, has been the inspiration on which many young Tunisian Muslims draw in order to shape their subjectivity on the basis of a complex relationship with time and politics.