Houssem Eddine Chachia

Houssem Eddine Chachia is an Associate Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Tunis, Tunisia. A specialist in Morisco history, he was awarded the 2024 Sheikh Zayed Book Award for his book The Morisco Landscape. As co-founder of The Nadwa Seminar: Tunisia, Mediterranean, and Beyond, he actively engages in international research initiatives like the COST Action Islamic Legacy (CA18129) and the CSIC project Intercultural Mediterranean Diplomacy.

• Academic Affiliation: University of Tunis (Tunisia)
• Visiting Positions: Harvard University, University of Murcia

His research focuses on:

• Historical trajectories of Moriscos and Sephardic Jews
• Mediterranean exile communities and identity formation
• Interfaith migration patterns (15th-18th centuries)
• Diplomatic negotiations between European and North African powers
• Archival analysis of Hafsid-Ottoman-Spanish relations
• Cultural adaptation in post-expulsion settlements

Recent publications analyze:

• Morisco power structures in 17th-century Tunisia
• Cross-Mediterranean manuscript circulation
• Comparative diaspora integration (Albanians vs. Roma)
• Arabic historiography of Iberian religious conflicts
• Portuguese-Jewish-Maghreb interactions
• Memory construction in post-Reconquista identity

Scientific Distinctions:

• 2024 Sheikh Zayed Book Award
• 2020 Best Young Researcher in History (Beit al-Hikma, Tunisia)

He has organized multiple academic conferences including:

• 2022 Training School on Mediterranean Migration Routes
• 2019 International Conference on Tunisia & Mediterranean Identities
• 2016 Spanish-Tunisian Doctoral Symposium
• 2016 Second Meeting of Young Tunisian Historians