Abstract:
Change in contemporary Arab society can be documented and analyzed by looking at beach culture as an emerging cultural phenomenon. The paper looks at Halq Elwed (la Goulette) beach as it was one of the first beaches in Tunisia. Recreational life at this beach went through profound changes. These started with the advent of Western-European style of beach recreation which ultimately led to the destruction of the traditional Tunisian swimming and swimming culture. After independence it underwent once again through the phase of the American-soft-sand-beach-culture. The Axis (The Avenue of Carthage) that was built by the French durinig occupation became later on known as the Avenue of Roosevelt, as representation of the American vision of reconstruction of the Arab World. The withdrawal of the Western-European colony culture represented a sharp demise for the modernist culture and psychology of Halq Elwed. The second impact affecting the destruction of this modernist culture of Helq Elwed came with the departure of the Jews, as a modernist group, from Tunisia.
