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– The living heritage of an undervalued agrobiodiversity: an analytical survey of practices and categorization of date palms in al-‘Ulā oasis, Saudi Arabia
A book of the project al-‘Ulā DPA (al-‘Ulā DPA Project: Ethnographic, genetic, and morphometric analyses of the date palm agrobiodiversity in al-‘Ulā oasis), work in progress.
– By Vincent Battesti & Muriel Gros-Balthazard.
To be published in Contributions in Ethnobiology series, published by The Society of Ethnobiology, Boston,
Forthcoming, 2025.
– Abstract:
In the scope of agricultural research and conservation, the importance of documenting and preserving local agrobiodiversity cannot be overstated. Landraces represent a wealth of diversity, while the genetic diversity of local and rare palms often remains underexplored. Such an oversight risks oversimplifying the complex nature of agrobiodiversity, which is far more than just a tally of elite varieties. Curiously, in the oasis of al-‘Ulā (KSA), even local accounts suggest that diversity primarily consists of two varieties (barnī and ḥalwah), coexisting with a socially ambiguous status of exceptional variety richness. The challenge lies not merely in counting the number of varieties. The real obstacle is comprehending what constitutes a variety at the local level, unravelling the cognitive mechanisms shaping diversity categorisation, delving into associated social issues, and grasping the local practices linked to date cultivation.
Beyond considerations of preservation, consumption, or heritage, the focus shifts especially to agricultural practices, particularly those involving the reproduction and care of cultivated date palms. The thought systems and practices surrounding this reproduction significantly influence present agrobiodiversity. The intricate social issues to be addressed include the qualities or social identities of owners, the valuation or devaluation of specific varieties, or of the broader phœnicicultural practices, social mechanisms for creating and validating new named types, and the diverse expectations and objectives associated with date crops (income, collection, gift economy, etc.). The context of this study is twofold, with the Saudi crown investing in the development of the region (“AlUla”) over the last 4 years and the local population losing interest in agricultural labour and knowledge (but not in agricultural business and property) over the last 40 years.
