Perceptions and practices of the environment, oasis and desert contrasts (Sahara and Arabia)

– Des perceptions et pratiques de son environnement, contrastes oasiens et désertiques (Sahara et Arabie)
that can be translated as: Perceptions and practices of the environment, oasis and desert contrasts (Sahara and Arabia)
Vincent Battesti & Camille Noûs
submitted to Parcours anthropologiques journal.
ISSN: 2273-0362
– Planned for issue 19, February 2024.

This article responds to the call for papers for the publication of the proceedings of the two day workshops Le contour des sens and is edited by Quentin Cécillon, Valentine Marlot, and Misha Schroetter: Approches sensibles de l’espace: regards croisés, anthropologie et égyptologie.

– The conference given in this occasion: Perceptions and practices of its environment, contrasted in the oases and in the desert (Sahara, Arabia)

– Introductory abstract:
This text, which relies heavily on iconography, aims to present factual data, followed by their analysis, from ethnographic research on the question of the relationship to the environment of the inhabitants of the Saharan and Arabian deserts, a relationship based on both perception and practice. Two major modes of production have been adopted in these regions, namely extensive pastoral livestock farming and intensive oasis agriculture. These two modes of production are often associated with two different but complementary social forms, as adopted by pastoral and sedentary populations. In this paper, we shall essentially play on the contrasts between the sensitive and practical experiences of the environments of one and the other.