Tensions between modernity and tradition prevail in Tunisian Salih Suwaysi’s (1871-1941) early 20th-century maqamat (rhymed prose), as they demonstrate his deeply-felt, nationalistic sentiment toward his birth city of Qayrawan. The maqamat idealize Qayrawan as a glorious Arab-Islamic city under assault by French colonial ambitions and modernization. For historians, Suwaysi’s maqamat augment our understanding of the French occupation of Tunisia, yet these writings have received little attention by scholars who have instead focused on Suwaysi’s poetry and his novel, considered Tunisia’s first. Typically analyzed by literature specialists, the maqamat examined in this paper serve a different purpose: with their autobiographical style they are examined to elucidate historical change as written by a local Tunisian author during the middle period of French rule in Tunisia. While they are an atypical source for historical writing, with careful contextualization both within the literary genre and the historical time period, they demonstrate the change over time that historians seeks in various kinds of primary sources. A gifted writer competent in many literary genres, Suwaysi had little formal education and is not considered a major figure in modern Tunisian history. His sense of connection to his home city appears throughout his maqamat and invites analysis on place and urbanism, while allowing for an appreciation of his contribution to our understanding of Tunisia’s history during the French Protectorate (1881-1956). The maqamat reflect contemporary Tunisian society and explore a range of changes resulting from the Protectorate, including modes of travel and transportation, and urban and industrial development. They also demonstrate the author’s romanticized, nostalgic view of Qayrawan and of the authenticity of the desert. His critiques are couched in the language and the influence of the 19th century’s most prominent Islamic reformers: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad ?Abduh. The maqamat then illustrate a complex link between 19th-century Islamism and a developing Tunisian nationalism in the early 20th-century while also revealing the dichotomy between past and present evident in a variety of forms of Arabic literature. The paper will analyze Suwaysi’s life and the contents of the maqamat set against the French colonial occupation of Tunisia and within the role that indigenous literature plays in constructing national identity.