Oasis

The present article focuses on a long-lasting phenomenon that has not yet been treated from a regional and comparative perspective, despite its exceptional character: the walled oases of north-western Arabia. It appears that several oases in the region (Al-Ḥuwayyiṭ, Dūmat al-Jandal, Ḥāʾiṭ, Khaybar, Qurayyah and Taymāʾ) were entirely, or in large part, enclosed by outer walls prior to the Islamic era. These compounds comprised not only densely populated areas but the whole oasis territory, including rural zones and sometimes burial grounds. Measuring several kilometres in length, these immense defensive schemes required considerable investment by indigenous populations for their construction and maintenance until their disuse. According to our research, the walled oases phenomenon in north-western Arabia originated sometime in the late fourth−early third millennium BCE, possibly inspired by Early Bronze Age southern Levant defensive concepts, and further expanded in connection with the emergence of the trans-Arabian trade and the caravan kingdoms. These conclusions are based on the detailed technological study of the ramparts of the oasis of Dūmat al-Jandal and on the analysis of satellite imagery and scientific literature on other sites in northwestern Arabia.

Communication présentée au Colloque « Dynamique des Espaces locaux et développement territorial », Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, Marrakech, les 25 et 26 avril 2013. Résumé Issu de la Stratégie Nationale de Développement et d'Aménagement des Oasis du Maroc, le Programme de Développement Territorial Durable des Oasis du Tafilalet, lancé en septembre 2006, a pour objectif global la lutte contre la désertification et la pauvreté en sauvegardant et valorisant les oasis du Tafilalet. Ce programme initié et coordonné par la Direction de l'Aménagement du Territoire (DAT) et le Programme des Nations Unies pour le Développement (PNUD), se propose surtout d'accompagner et d'amplifier la dynamique locale, dans le territoire administratif de la province d'Errachidia et de la centrer sur la planification stratégique communale durable en développant trois échelles d'intervention : 1) l'échelle du terrain, avec l'introduction de pratiques durables d'agro écologie, d'écotourisme, d'éducation environnementale et d'énergie, permettant une exploitation rationnelle des ressources naturelles ; 2) l'échelle du territoire, avec la création d'une plateforme locale de développement durable, via les plans communaux de développement ; 3) l'échelle de l'Etat, avec la mise en place d'une réflexion juridique et législative, autour de la problématique oasienne. Cependant, ce qui semble en théorie correcte et porteurs de fruits va se heurter à la réalité du terrain et aux problèmes de centralisation des modes de gestion de ce programme et du manque de visibilité de ses actions par la population locale concernée. Les auteurs de cet article proposent alors une approche critique de ce programme afin de capitaliser sur ses acquis et de contribuer à corriger certaines erreurs de parcours voire éviter de les reproduire dans les autres programmes de développement territoriaux des oasis : DELIO de la province de Figuig ou le POS des provinces sahariennes ou encore le tout nouveau POD de la province de Zagora. Mots clés : aménagement du territoire, développement territorial durable, oasis,

La palmeraie du Tafilalet représente une construction sociale et écologique particulièrement fragile, est aujourd'hui en crise et menacée de disparition. L'équilibre relatif qui assurait sa résistance face aux contraintes de l'environnement désertique paraît de plus en plus compromis, aussi bien par l'évolution écologique que l'évolution socio-économique. A partir d'une carte éco-agrologique représentant l'évolution récente de l'espace local sont analysés la déstructuration et l'effacement progressif de l'agrosystème traditionnel du Tafilalet fondé sur la maîtrise de l'eau et les mécanismes de dégradation et d'éclatement des oasis.

New data from current research is proving decisive in questioning old tenets on the date, context and, as a consequence, also the prime movers in the formation of so-called ‘urban’ oases in the Arabian Peninsula. This contribution discusses both previous scholarship and novel findings in the effort of clarifying the formation processes of these large, complex settlements, by looking at new discoveries in the north-west of Arabia compared to chronologically germane phenomena in the Levant.

This research wants to analyse the architecture and the shape of Muslim urban space, in the different regions and climates of the huge territory controlled by this civilization. The formal and religious mean where this transformation moves is represented by water, which transforms itself into a stuff useful for the design of the landscape and the towns, which varying to the environmental condition and limitation

"A Gift of the Desert: The Oases of the Western Desert of Egypt and their Archaeological Treasures" - Introduction chapter to the theme "Egyptian Oases" of Germany's most popular archaeology magazine ANTIKE WELT. Issue 2 of 2011 offers five contributions to the topic of Egyptian oases. - (in German)

Water Sharing at the Figuig Oasis (Western Morocco). A Historical and Archaeological Approximation
El reparto del agua en el oasis de Figuig (Marruecos oriental). Estudio histórico y arqueológico/
Le réseau hydraulique de l’oasis de Figuig est un bon exemple des transformations imposées par l’homme à son environnement en réponse aux contraintes d’un milieu aride hostile. Après une brève introduction sur les recherches oasiennes et la documentation disponible, ce travail tente de reconstruire la mise en place du peuplement à Figuig et met en évidence les liens étroits entre celui-ci, les modes de partage de l’eau et les codes sociaux. La répartition de l’eau était assurée par un réseau complexe, alimenté par des galeries drainantes (ifli-s) et des sources, et constitué de multiples sāqiya-s et bassins de stockage et de régulation. Le partage était basé sur deux unités de mesure, l’une de temps et l’autre de volume. À Figuig, le droit d’eau était généralement propriété privée (milk) ; on pouvait en disposer selon les modes de transmission d’un bien immobilier. Enfin, venaient s’ajouter aux droits d’irrigation proprement dits diverses servitudes coutumières.

Análisis del libro "La era del desarrollo sostenible" publicada por el reconocido economista Jeffrey Sachs, que señala la importancia, así como la urgencia, que tiene para los individuos que los Estados se comprometan a implementar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible. Con el objeto de hacerle entender al lector la urgencia de alcanzar esta tan ambiciosa agenda, Sachs hace un recorrido histórico del desarrollo económico desde la Revolución Industrial hasta nuestros días, para analizar de esta forma el origen de las desigualdades. El autor propone alternativas para que los Estados puedan cumplir con este compromiso planetario a través de lo que llama una buena gobernanza, sostenida bajo los principios de responsabilidad, transparencia y participación.

In una prospettiva di sostenibilità tesa al raggiungimento dell’equilibrio tra paesaggio naturale, socio-culturale, produttivo ed economico e sistema insediativo, le conoscenze tradizionali possono costituire un vocabolario di riferimento preziosissimo a cui attingere, perché storicamente consolidate, culturalmente accettate, ecologiche ed economiche.  Oggi si fa fatica a credere che ritornare ad una più tradizionale gestione del territorio possa essere una delle condizioni auspicabili per il futuro. Questo perché la lentezza che contraddistingueva le società tradizionali non risponde alla logica della società capitalista e neoliberista del massimo profitto che si è imposta da un certo punto in poi, influenzando irrimediabilmente l’assetto economico-produttivo tradizionale che ha subito un’accellerazione a scapito della qualità. Alle economie locali, fondate sull’agricoltura, l’allevamento, l’artigianato e sul rispetto dei cicli naturali, gestite secondo metodi e modelli tradizionali si sono sostituiti sistemi e modelli finalizzati alla grande distribuzioni con l’imposizione di tecnologie che hanno il più delle volte compromesso l’equilibrio dell’intero ecosistema con lo sfruttamento indiscriminato delle risorse.  In passato l’introduzione delle innovazioni nel patrimonio delle conoscenze consolidate veniva valutata, accettata e incorporata solo dopo che la loro sperimentazione ne avesse dimostrato l’effettiva efficacia e la compatibilità con la capacità dell’ecosistema di rinnovarsi e rigenerarsi. Qualsiasi azione sul territorio deve essere quindi progettata e pianificata in maniera partecipata e valutata nel lungo periodo. Non si tratta di un’azione, ma di un insieme di azioni concertate che mirino non solo al recupero del territorio inteso come l’insieme composto dal patrimonio materiale e dal paesaggio, ma anche della memoria storica attraverso la valorizzazione delle risorse umane e delle relazioni che intercorrono tra i due massimi sistemi.  Ciò non presuppone un nostalgico ritorno ai modi tradizionali di vivere, ma la possibilità di organizzare modelli sociali autosostenibili e autopoietici in grado di “perpetuarsi e rigenerarsi continuamente” (P. Laureano) nel rispetto delle caratteristiche climatiche, geografiche e storico-culturali del luogo.  Dal latino tradere, cioè consegnare, trasmettere. La trasmissione del sapere e della conoscenza non resta immutabile nel tempo, ma si trasforma, adeguandosi alle trasformazioni territoriali e alle mutate necessità di chi le eredita.

Main results of the French component of the Saudi-Italian-French archaeological project in the oasis of Dûmat al-Jandal (Saudi Arabia, Jawf province ; dir. G. Charloux, CNRS, and R. Loreto, univ. L'Orientale of Naples) between 2010 and 2017. 

Principaux résultats des études menées entre 2010 et 2017 dans l'oasis de Dûmat al-Jandal (Arabie saoudite, province du Jawf) par la composante française de la mission archéologique Italo-franco-saoudienne (dir. G. Charloux, CNRS & R. Loreto, univ. L'Orientale de Naples).

Mutation territoriale et conséquences sur le peuplement des vil-les sahariennes BRAHIM KERROUMI* Derrière le folklore targui organisé sur un fond de danses ances-trales, des mises en scène de combat à l'épée et des cercles de femmes et d'hommes drapés de voiles bleus savourant du thé à la menthe se cache une douloureuse histoire rarement évoquée par les récits des histoires nationales produits dans les cinq pays qui abritent présentement les différents groupes des Touareg 1. En effet, un oubli méthodique est en train d'être exercé rigou-reusement sur la mémoire collective du peuple targui afin de lui forcer une nouvelle identité nationale chargée d'une nouvelle mémoire qui n'est pas forcément la sienne. Des histoires natio-nales remplacent désormais l'histoire d'un peuple qui a long-temps refusé la soumission aux différents pouvoirs centraux de l'Afrique du Nord et du Sahel. Avant de nous aventurer davantage dans notre probléma-tique principale qui tourne essentiellement autour de la mobilité des Touaregs au-delà des frontières, il importe de préciser que la recherche ne vise pas à exposer une analyse exhaustive sur les différentes tribus touarègues, elle vise, plutôt, à mettre en clair les conséquences de l'assujettissement d'un peuple no-* 1. Les différents groupes Touaregs se localise essentiellement en Algérie, la Lybie, le Mali, le Niger et le Burkina-Faso.

The workshop presents the results of the first year of research of the working group of Sapienza University of Rome and University of Perugia of the PRIN 2017 project "Fluid Crescent. Water and Life in the Societies of the Ancient Near East".
The multidisciplinary project, with the participation of archaeologists, paleobotanists, geologists and philologists, intends to analyze and study the different forms and natures of waterscape in the areas of the Fertile Crescent, with particular attention to the case studies of southern Mesopotamia (centered on the data collected in the excavation of Tell Zurghul / Nigin), northern Syria (Ebla) and the central and southern Levant with the analysis of coastal contexts (Tyre) and oasis (Damascus).
The research is part of ongoing excavation and field research activities and has also promoted international collaborations on the geo-morphological, archaeological and cultural aspects of the man-environment relationship.
The workshop takes place online on Zoom and is accessible through the following link:

https://uniroma1.zoom.us/j/94045911928?pwd=b2UwR2c3U0ppUWx0MFZlS0ZHbHpLdz09
Meeting ID: 940 4591 1928
Passcode: iuMn86

En los últimos años, Canadá ha salido de su zona de confort en los asuntos hemisféricos para hablar y actuar enérgicamente, como lo expresó la ministra de relaciones exteriores, Chrystia Freeland, en solidaridad con “el pueblo de Venezuela y su deseo de restaurar la democracia y los derechos humanos en Vene­zuela”. Con sus socios del Grupo de Lima, Ca­nadá impuso sanciones al régimen de Maduro, reconoció a Juan Guaidó como presidente interino y convocó a elecciones libres y justas lo antes posible. El artículo identifica posibles factores que explican la política de Canadá. La propuesta principal es que la crisis de Venezue­la presenta una combinación extraordinaria de factores nacionales e internacionales que hacen que la participación en un impulso multilate­ral y diplomático para el restablecimiento de la democracia sea una opción ambiciosa pero, sensata para Canadá. El artículo también pre­senta las críticas a esta política y analiza el tema de los derechos humanos y la promoció...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has embarked on an ambitious plan of nation-building transforming the landscape of the country. Whereas Abu Dhabi and Dubai with their modern architecture promote an international urban lifestyle, the third largest city in UAE, Al-Ain offers a relaxed, Oasis/villa experience a form of revival to Andrea Palladio's mansions during the Renaissance era. Recent housing developments segregate around the city's mountain, and consist of about 11,000 large Mediterranean-styled villas with extensive green landscaping and an artificial canal in the desert. Although these developments are not culturally foreign, since they emulate decisions of Islamic/Arab palatial complexes such as Alhambra in Spain the scarcity of water resources and the growing interest in Western/Renaissance-styled landscaping question the notion of sustainability of a city in a desert environment. We examine urban expansion of Al Ain city in light of the constraints imposed by scarce water resources. As a case study, we investigate the water requirements for the central oasis area in Al Ain and simulate the flow condition in the falaj complex channel system using the 2D-hydrodynamic Finite Element Surface Water Modelling System (FESWMS). Today reviving ideas such as integration of nature into cities, green infrastructure constitutes the fundamentals of sustainable urbanism. Developing awareness of the importance of traditional landscape and reviving the falaj irrigation system offers a hybridization between societal needs for upscale Mediterranean styled villas and retention of Emirati cultural values and traditions. Our study offers alternative landscapes to open lawns irrigated by sprinkler systems and recommendations in line with the Estidama guidelines-the UAE's Sustainability Design and Construction regulations guidelines.

The ruins of the settlement of Qasr Allam, which in the Third Intermediate Period was part of a religious ensemble connected to a “Precinct of Amon”, were reused as a cemetery after abandonment. During the end of the Late Period and/or the Ptolemaic era (towards the fourth century bc), human and animal burials were installed within the same funerary space. The preponderance of children and dogs in relation to the rest of the population and livestock is clear, and canines seem to enjoy a funeral treatment comparable to that of humans. The procedures that the taphonomic study allowed us to reconstitute would suggest that dogs and humans, in particular immature humans, were sometimes deliberately associated and put in physical contact. Such a phe- nomenon of juxtaposing these species, on this scale, has never been witnessed in Egyptian anthropozoology.

Los enfoques que analizan las dinámicas de colaboración de investigación científica de corte binario: “Norte-Sur” y “Centro-Periferia” tienden a no reconocer la arbitrariedad del sistema científico internacional y matizan en sus análisis el impacto de cómo los grupos de investigación e investigadores del Sur global tienden a colaborar. Nuestro trabajo se propone responder y discutir: ¿Con quién colaboran los investigadores en relaciones internacionales (RI) del Mercosur? ¿Cuáles son los objetivos de esas asociaciones? ¿Se imponen agendas desde el Norte? ¿Cuáles son las principales motivaciones e intereses de los agentes para la colaboración científica? Para esto, recuperamos aportes del campo de los estudios sociales de la ciencia y proponemos un análisis exploratorio de estudio de caso múltiple de grupos de investigación del Mercosur centrado en el punto de vista del investigador con el fin de revisitar la perspectiva de los agentes. El trabajo tendrá dos dimensiones: un análisis b...

Las grandes cumbres ambientales son referencias importantes, tanto para la generación de políticas nacionales específicas como para lineamientos teóricos como p. ej., en la educación ambiental. Pero no siempre se encuentran análisis minuciosos sobre los contenidos y los contextos teóricos e históricos de las cumbres. El presente artículo pretende realizar una aproximación a este reto, especialmente para poder identificar mejor el surgimiento y los intereses que giran alrededor de la educación ambiental. Es dentro de este contexto que se exponen las diferentes definiciones de la educación ambiental que surgen de esas cumbres.

L’agriculture exercée dans les périmètres oasiens urbains est aujourd’hui menacée au Maroc. À Tiznit, l’inversion des rapports de valeur entre l’eau et la terre a favorisé une urbanisation anarchique sur des terres historiquement préser­vées. Or, cette activité fait preuve de résilience dans un contexte institution­nel peu favorable. Cette dynamique s’explique par la résistance des agriculteurs et des ayants droit qui se mobilisent face aux autres parties prenantes. Derrière des pratiques culturales jugées archaïques se cachent de nouvelles dynamiques entre­pre­neuriales comme l’élevage bovin laitier. En effet, il apparaît aujourd’hui que l’espace oasien périurbain est particulièrement propice au développement d’une filière laitière bovine intégrée au marché à même de concilier ville et agriculture. Parallèlement, apparaît la volonté d’acteurs locaux de faire reconnaître la spéci­ficité de l’agriculture oasienne afin d’en assurer la préservation. Or, le rôle économique de cette agriculture est parfois minoré tandis que sont mis en avant ses rôles esthétique, écologique, voire psychologique au sein de villes en pleine croissance. L’oasis devient alors un étendard identitaire, un lieu de mémoire d’un temps précolonial, permettant de magnifier une certaine forme de démocratie locale historique. Cependant, cette vision tend à figer les pratiques culturales autour de cultures patrimoniales. S’affirment alors de nouvelles velléités institu­tionnelles de certification des pratiques afin de les mettre en conformité avec de nouveaux usages récréatifs, limitant les opportunités d’innovation des agriculteurs. Par ailleurs, cette patrimonialisation se traduit par une diminution des superficies agricoles au profit d’aménagements récréatifs, voire à l’autorisation d’une urbanisation périphérique croissante, amenant à de nouvelles tensions. Enfin, les ayants droit historiques peuvent être associés à un groupe politique clairement déterminé, les rendant dépendants des retournements électoraux.

At Bîr Tirfawi and Bîr Sahara in the now hyperarid Egyptian Sahara, relict lake deposits located in adjacent deflation basins near 22 54 0 57.58 00 N 28 50 0 19.54 00 E preserve evidence of different hydroclimate conditions that enabled cultural activities during the Middle Stone Age e Middle Paleolithic (MSA-MP). Single aliquot regeneration optically stimulated luminescence (SAR-OSL) dating techniques were applied to sediment samples with archaeological contexts to generate a more precise geochronology for the groundwater-supported lakes and prehistoric activities in the region. New age determinations on nine samples collected from Bîr Sahara East and Bîr Tirfawi are presented for the five paleolake phases originally described by the excavation team. The new analyses yielded dates that are more precise, and refine the original geochronology for water availability at this location. The determinations suggest that some of the originally defined lake phases are temporally indistinct. SAR-OSL dates of the West 2 and West 3 lake phases defined at Bîr Sahara East overlap in time, and are contemporaneous with the Grey 3 phase at Bîr Tirfawi, at around 102 ka. The refined age for the Grey 1 phase at Bîr Tirfawi dates to 135 ± 21.6 ka, and two dates for the Post-Lake phase at Bîr Sahara center around 41 ka. A probability distribution plot (pdf) of all nine of the analytical results resolves the chronology of groundwater-supported paleolakes and prehistoric activities in the region around 41 ka (MIS 3), 80 ka (MIS 5a), 102 (MIS 5c-d), and 115 ka (MIS 5d-e). Precise dates for the sediments at these archaeological sites are important for several lines of multidisciplinary inquiry, including the role of Middle-Late Pleistocene climate on landscape change and water availability, variations in material culture and the adaptations in populations of anatomically modern humans (AMH) in the Sahara. Research in the Bîr Sahara e Bîr Tirfawi region is particularly interesting because the sites are within the modern hyperarid core of NE Africa, and are not located along the coasts or major waterway corridors " Out of Africa " like the Nile Valley. Semi-permanent paleolakes and long-lived spring-fed oases located in the modern arid belt west of the River Nile between Egypt and Sudan were crucial biomes for sustaining the lifeways and dispersal of Homo throughout the Quaternary. However, the importance and the role of such ecosystems dispersed across the North African landscape is somewhat underestimated in existing hypotheses that aim to describe hominin adaptation and dispersals.

La société amazighe s'est constituée autour de biens communs fonciers mis à mal par la colonisation puis la forte croissance démographique de la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle. Face à la prédiction d'une tragédie des biens communs, dans de nombreux lieux, ces biens ont été soit étatisés soit privatisés. Ici, à travers le cas de la Targa de Tiznit, la persistance historique d'un bien commun foncier (eau à vocation agricole) sera questionnée du fait de la mobilisation constante du collectif de propriétaires historiques et ce malgré les contraintes légales. En effet, la résilience du bien commun semble liée à un idéal de gouvernance passée : la démocratie collective basée sur le consensus entre les chefs des familles. La puissance évocatrice du bien commun permet alors sa renaissance au sein de nouvelles organisations associatives. Cependant, l'ancien principe de la démocratie collective apparaît comme marginal et marginalisant au sein des nouvelles institutions. Désormais, le bien commun foncier ne peut se perpétuer que grâce à la bienveillance des institutions politiques nationales. Or, dans le contexte de transformation du champ politique urbain et notamment la montée d'autres idéologies, il peut être ignoré voire combattu. Par ailleurs, il est aussi menacé de l'intérieur par des dynamiques de prédation ou de manipulation.

Le génie humain a toujours su trouver les solutions les plus adaptées qui font preuve de la capacité humaine à s’adapter et à relever le défi de l’existence. L’originalité et la génialité de ces solutions font des oasis, des chefs d’ouvres d’une valeur patrimoniale inégalée. Aussi, les oasis ont longtemps été des espaces de transit pour des caravanes aussi bien de commerçants que de savants, hommes de lettres et de sciences. Nombreuses universités virent le jour dans ces contrées, pour donner une vocation culturelle particulière à ces milieux. Toutefois, avec le déclassement des réseaux de commerce caravanier et saharien et l’apparition de nouvelles formes d’économie (les hydrocarbures, les flux maritimes, l’industrialisation..), les milieux oasiens ont été mis à l’épreuve des changements et de la modernisation. Ces changements accentués sous les effets de la mondialisation suscitent l’intérêt de se questionner quant à l’avenir de ces oasis et de rechercher de nouvelles formes d’économie. • Dans quelle mesure une économie adaptée et respectueuse de l’environnement et de la fragilité du milieu, peut elle s’installer? • Dans quelle mesure le patrimoine culturel matériel et immatériel que portent ces oasis peut-il être associé au tourisme, pour développer un tourisme culturel et écologique adapté? • Quelles pourraient être les limites et les caractéristiques d’une activité touristique adaptée? • Quels seraient les modes, instruments et mécanismes sensés garantir ces limites?

Tels sont les préoccupations de cet essai dont le questionnement s’articule autour d’un repositionnement économique confortable des milieux oasiens.

In South East Arabia (Sultanate of Oman and United Arab Emirates), oases are irrigated gardens characterised by intensive and mixed farming: date palms form a canopy under which other crops are protected from the sun’s rays and the heat. The origin of this agrosystem and its impact on the historical trajectory of Arabian populations are still much debated issues. Some scholars have suggested that oases developed as soon as agriculture was introduced into the region, at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (3200–2000 BC). The intensification of trade with neighbouring civilisations of Mesopotamia, Iran and Indus seems to have ignited the spark for the adoption of agriculture in Southeast Arabia. According to the existing theories, oases then emerged rapidly and were a means of adapting agriculture to the arid environment of this region. This agrosystem remained unchanged in its fundamental principles until the present day. This theory, however, denies the diachronic dimension of Southeast Arabian landscapes. The present chapter therefore aims to re-evaluate the data and reassess current theories of an Early Bronze Age origin for oases. An alternative development model, based on the available data, will be proposed. It is suggested that the development of oases corresponds to a long process with several steps resulting from environmental changes, technological innovation and socio-economic factors.

In the context of the German-Omani co-operation project “Transformation processes in Oasis settlements in Oman” the last phase of archaeological investigations started in the spring of 2005. After Izkī and the Jebel al-AΟΡar in 2004, field work concentrated on Nizwā, which always played an important part in the country’s history as a political and religious centre. Today, Nizwā oasis has a north-south extension of nearly 20 km and is with its 60,000 inhabitants one of the largest inland oases of central Oman. As the process of urbanisation is in fast progress at Nizwā, large areas are already covered by modern building activities and many archaeological sites have been destroyed. Despite this situation it was possible to record nearly 300 find-spots from the late 4/early 3 millennium BC to the Late Islamic period. These sites, with a major emphasis in the Early Iron Age and the Middle Islamic period, allow us to sketch the development of settlement activities within this oasis. The ...

Città-oasi, oasi-città " Dappertutto dove gli abitanti scavando nella terra lunghi buchi verticali sono riusciti a tirar su dell'acqua, fin là e non oltre si è estesa la città ". Così Italo Calvino descrive Isaura, una delle sue città invisibili. Similmente si può tratteggiare il carattere fondativo delle città-oasi. Due sono infatti gli elementi che rendono possibile l'esistenza di un'oasi: il deserto, che costituisce il supporto geografico sul quale si colloca l'insediamento e che dà forma alla città; e l'acqua, elemento che ne determina estensione spaziale e durata temporale. Il deserto rappresenta la condizione di isolamento entro la quale l'uomo sceglie di insediarsi, trasformandone il paesaggio per il proprio sostentamento. Attraverso complessi sistemi di captazione delle acque sotterranee, l'uomo addomestica il deserto: lo rende supporto, non più ostile, alle attività umane. Il palmeto, coltivato, diventa così l'elemento simbiotico della città, che, insieme all'acqua che conserva, deve essere protetto e custodito. Palmeto è binomio della città: l'uno è ragione dell'esistenza dell'altra e viceversa. In questo preciso equilibrio tra deserto, acqua, palmeto ed insediamento umano, il variare di anche uno solo degli elementi incide su una trasformazione complessiva. A Figuig, oasi dell'est marocchino, tutto questo è particolarmente evidente: in seguito alla chiusura della frontiera con l'Algeria nel 1994, l'oasi ha definitivamente perso il suo ruolo di punto nodale nel vasto sistema di rotte carovaniere e tracciati transahariani che un tempo attraversavano la regione. Con la chiusura della frontiera la sorgente d'acqua più ricca, che si trova ora in territorio algerino, ha costretto gli abitanti dell'oasi a prevedere forme diverse di approvvigionamento idrico (attraverso, ad esempio, la costruzione di dighe e bacini idrici che hanno parzialmente soppiantato i tradizionali sistemi di condotte superficiali e sotterranee). Nonostante un'endogena capacità di riequilibrio, l'oasi subisce, ormai da decenni, un consistente fenomeno di migrazione dei suoi abitanti, le cui rimesse economiche sono, oggi, la principale fonte di sostentamento. Tutti questi fattori, ed altri ancora, hanno determinato l'attuale paesaggio dell'oasi: dove un tempo un ricco palmeto si stagliava contro la catena dell'Atlante Sahariano fornendo riparo a giardini lussureggianti, oggi le palme nascondono terreni incolti ed abbandonati; negli ksar, dove un tempo gli spessi muri di terra proteggevano gli abitanti, convivono ora nuove edificazioni abbandonate e rovine abitate, in attesa che il deserto ridefinisca la nuova forma della città.

Beauty, aesthetics and perceptions:
No discussion of beauty would be comprehensive without including aesthetics, sometimes synonymous with our concept of beauty.  In fact it is "our" sense of perceptions that really concerns us.  To what are we responsive?  What is relevant to our place and time?  (1.0)John Dewey believed that a truly aesthetic experience is one where a person is unified with activity.  (1.1)It is an experience that is so engaging and fulfilling that there is no conscious distinction between self and (1.2)object.  An aesthetic experience is one in which the attributes of both the individual and the environment or the internal and external are in harmony.  Our experience with physics, nature, society, politics, religion, geography, etc. of our time and place are the elements of our "potential" metaphors.  (1.3)They are potential until we exert the effort to either reify, exude or manifest these into a form.  It is our way of claiming this time and place.  To gain our identity in this time and place we are compelled to create and perceive from our encounters with things of the present with extent reality.  Our metaphors belong to us and superceed, parallel or subordinate to others.  Their relevance and embroilment into our context makes the difference.

Los grandes oasis del oeste argentino son sujeto de investigación por distintas disciplinas, sin embargo en el marco de especialización de las ciencias, los estudios en torno a los mismos y sus problemáticas se presentan sectorialmente, o solo sobre algunos factores o elementos y resulta difícil encontrar investigaciones que tomen al oasis como unidad de estudio y más aún que problematicen el concepto o incluso que se propongan definirlo más a allá de delimitarlo espacialmente o de perspectivas dicotómicas en el sentido oasis/secano u oasis/desierto. El presente artículo deviene de exploraciones en el campo de la epistemología y la filosofía partiendo desde interrogantes y del deseo de investigar desde una ecología política latinoamericana sobre la producción de los oasis de la provincia de Mendoza.

Oasis settlements are the most common form in the Saharan regions of North Africa, identified by a strong harmony between urban forms and palm groves, which present the economic capital for these regions. On the other hand, these oases are significantly growing and impacting the people’s livelihood and thermal well-being, especially during summer season. This study aims at first to identify the close correlation between cultivated area (palm grove) and the built-up area throughout the Tolga Oasis Complex in Algeria, which is recognised by its palm groves and well-known as one of the largest oasis settlements of the Saharan regions in North Africa. Furthermore, the current work assesses the impact of palm groves by investigating the ‘oasis effect’ on the thermal heat stress levels during July and August daytime hours within 9 conducted stations. Suprisingly, the so-called oasis effect generated by palm groves was insignificant during the extreme hot days. On the other hand, the palm ...

Dans les oasis du Wad Nûn, nulle apologie de l’autochtonie, nulle prééminence du premier arrivé : chacun vient d’ailleurs et veille à en conserver et exhiber le souvenir. Cet ailleurs est orienté : au sud, prestigieux, est attaché un idéal de pureté de la langue hassāniyya et de nomadisme ; au nord, une culture sédentaire et berbérophone dont les arabophones sahariens cherchent à se distinguer. Des techniques du corps aux relations de parenté en passant par les cérémonies de mariage et les liens à la terre, un grand nombre de pratiques des Tekna sont traversées, sur fond de conflit du Sahara occidental, par ce tropisme. Claire Cécile Mitatre s’est attachée à le faire ressortir dans une ethnographie fine, vivante et attentive à la réflexivité des acteurs.

Préface de François-Xavier Fauvelle

Popular music research was stretching for some decades from subcultures theories to music sociology; from traditional musicology to new musicology, and from cultural studies of modernist and post-modernist culture to semiotics and music aesthetics. Yet, there were hardly-to say at least-any researches concerning popular music bands of siblings and their music. In the 1990s, Oasis was the best-selling band in Britain. TheGallagher brothers, Noel and Liam, who led Oasis, epitomized the era of Britpop. It was a musical and cultural movement that was based on "returning to Englishness", and produced attractive and highly commercial rock music by indie bands. A crucial part of Oasis' success depended on the brothers' relationship. The siblings competed for leadership, control and attention. Their rivalry turned the media obsessed with the band. Journalistic historians of Britpop, Oasis' biographers and academics, have related to the 1990s, the Britpop movement, the band's well-publicized rivalry with Blur, the new post-Thatcherism euphoria, and the rise of Tony Blair and the New Labour, as all part of Oasis Phenomenon. However, I'd like to I understand Oasis' successful music from a different perspective, from a psychological point of view: as a product of the dysfunctional family syndrome, and especially the idea of brothers in a family and a musical unity. In addition, I'd like to use analytical psychology, and especially the Jungian archetypes of the trickster and rebirth, to understand Oasis' charisma and creativity, alongside the mythology and psychology of siblings. In this context, my aim would be to understand how the psychology of siblings and kinship libido, alongside projections of other Jungian archetypes (with emphasis on the rebirth and the trickster), can create not only a mass craze, but also an interesting repertoire.

This book is a reference work about the study of oases in the context of globalisation. It is based on selected papers presented at the international colloquium entitled Oases in the Globalisation, Ruptures and Continuities in Paris (December 16-17th, 2013). The main issue was to understand how oases have been excluded from or included into the process of globalisation.
In this context, the present book proposes firstly a discussion about the definition(s) of oasis and then several case studies dealing with the compelling globalisation at different spatial scales, using two entries: the water management and local impacts of external control. The last part analyses socio-spatial mutations in the oasis structure.

Las poblaciones del Sudeste de Marruecos se organizan en torno a la construcción y el mantenimiento de las infraestructuras que captan el agua y la gestión de su reparto. En las últimas décadas, el cambio climático ha provocado la disminución del régimen de lluvias y, por tanto, del nivel del freático, ello agravado por las nuevas infraestructuras hidráulicas y la llegada masiva de turistas. En este trabajo se analizan los cambios sociales y medioambientales que, como consecuencia, afectan a estas poblaciones.