Fourth-year Report—Dec. 2023. Anthropological survey of al-‘Ulā community and its oasis system

– Vincent Battesti & Léo Marty (2023) — « Fourth-year Report—Dec. 2023. Anthropological survey of al-‘Ulā community and its oasis system, Unveiling al-‘Ulā: Deepening Understanding of Anthropological Dynamics » Annual Report to AFALULA, Paris, CNRS, 38 p.
Notice: https://hal.science/hal-04367489

⟶ Annual report for the al-‘Ulā AS project.

– Purpose of the document:

This report details the advancements achieved in the fourth year (October 2022 – September 2023) of the “Anthropological survey of al-‘Ulā community and its oasis system” project, also referred to as the al-‘Ulā AS Project. This project is entering its fifth and final year, following the additional year granted by AFALULA (amendment agreement currently being signed between CNRS and AFALULA) to address the pandemic and administrative challenges encountered during the project.

Despite the challenges outlined in previous reports and the inherent uncertainties of field sciences experienced during data collection missions, the project managed to gather insights across all the domains it had scheduled for investigation. These encompass the realms of anthropology, ethnoecology, and agronomy (refer to Figure 2).

The initial results have been able to be published, prioritising those considered essential by the project as foundational knowledge for other research projects, as well as for the institutions and companies responsible for the development of the region. Alternatively, they have been the subject of a doctoral thesis, which is set to be defended soon.

The fifth and final year of the project aims to undertake the comprehensive analysis of all data pertaining to the oasis of al-‘Ulā and its region. This includes fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and intersections, synthesising various data sets (such as social data informing agricultural data, and vice versa), and ultimately culminating in their publication for widespread accessibility.

A view of ‘Azīziyyah district from a chic, modern café attended by women, al-‘Ulā, Saudi Arabie, Sept. 6, 2021, by Vincent Battesti