La Grande muraille verte est le nom d’un programme régional de lutte contre la désertification au Sahel lancé en 2007 sous l’égide de l’Union africaine et des organisations régionales. Il consiste à favoriser le reboisement des territoires semi-arides le long d’un tracé reliant Dakar à Djibouti et traversant onze États, afin de créer un « bandeau végétal dressé face à l’avancée du désert ». Cette thèse a pour but de proposer une lecture géographique et critique de ce projet insolite, appréhendé ici comme une utopie environnementale. À partir d’enquêtes de terrain principalement menées au Sénégal (région du Ferlo) et enrichies par les apports de la political ecology, elle met en lumière la tension qui existe entre d’un côté, la formulation d’un projet de territoire au nom du développement des zones semi-arides et de la gestion des ressources naturelles et, de l’autre, la promotion d’un instrument d’extraversion politique et économique permettant de capter de nouvelles rentes environnementales : en quoi la territorialisation du projet est-elle subordonnée à une quête de visibilité globale ? La première partie montre comment la Grande muraille verte recycle dans un moment historique favorable des pratiques anciennes en matièr ede lutte contre la désertification. La deuxième partie décrit le déficit d’ancrage territorial de ses aménagements à l’échelle locale. La troisième partie montre que l’appropriation globale du projet est la source principale de sa grande résilience. / The Great Green Wall is a regional initiative to combat desertification in the Sahel. It was launched in2007 under the leadership of the African Union and other regional organisations. The program supports reforestation of drylands from Dakar to Djibouti, and aims to form a line of trees protecting against desert encroachment. In a geographical and critical perspective, it can regarded as a green utopia. This thesis, based essentially on field research carried out in Senegal (Ferlo region) supplemented by political ecology insights sheds light on the existing tension between two approaches to the project : one, the objectives of this local project are to develop drylands and better manage natural resources, and two, it can also be seen as promoting an instrument of political and economic extraversion, producing newrent-seeking opportunities. To what extent can the territorialization process of the local project be impaired by the search for global visibility ? The first part shows how the Great Green Wall, at a historical moment, is reactivating traditional techniques to combat desertification. The second partdescribes the lack of territorial anchorage and its local applications. The third part shows that the project derives its great resilience mainly from global ownership.

Le foncier pastoral dans les savanes soudaniennes d’Afrique de l’Ouest reste un thème peu étudié par rapport au foncier pastoral en zone sahélienne. Pourtant, depuis les années 1970, l’élevage s’y est développe au point de devenir la deuxième source de richesse derrière l’agriculture. L’augmentation de la population rurale entraîne l’accroissement des superficies cultivées et du cheptel. Cela alimente une concurrence spatiale accrue et potentiellement conflictuelle entre agriculture et élevage. A partir du cas de l’Ouest du Burkina Faso, cette thèse pose la question de la place de l’élevage dans les régions sous pression foncière. Les données ont été recueillies principalement à partir d’entretiens et questionnaires, du suivi d’un troupeau transhumant et de l’analyse d’images satellite. La première partie décrit le recul des espaces de parcours et ses conséquences sur les mobilités pastorales. La deuxième partie s’inscrit dans les champs de la political ecology et de la géographie du pouvoir. L’analyse des jeux de pouvoir locaux et des politiques nationales de développement rural montre comment la pression foncière s’accompagne d’une territorialisation des brousses au détriment des parcours pastoraux. Ce processus alimente les inégalités socio-économiques entre éleveurs. Enfin, la troisième partie rassemble les arguments qui plaident en faveur du maintien de la mobilité en zone soudanienne pour montrer que ces pratiques ne peuvent perdurer que si un droit foncier pastoral est inventé. L’analyse du rôle et des stratégies de chaque acteur offre des outils pour mener une politique de concertation sur l’usage partagé des ressources et l’intégration territoriale des activités. / Pastoral land tenure in Sudanian savannas is less studied than pastoral land tenure in Sahelian areas. However, livestock breeding has been growing in Sudanian areas since the 1970s, and is now the second largest sources of wealth after agriculture. Increase in croplands and livestock stems from population growth. This entails a growing and potentially conflicting spatial competition between agriculture and stockbreeding. This PhD dissertation builds on the case of western Burkina Faso to deal with the issue of the role and the spatial organization of stockbreeding in regions under land pressure. Data were mainly collected through interviews with producers and key informants, questionnaires, accompanying along herds during transhumance and remote sensing analysis. The first part describes decrease in pasturelands and its consequences on pastoral mobility. The second part is entered in the search fields of political ecology and geography of power. The analysis of local power relations and national rural development policies shows that land pressure comes along with a territorialisation of bushes to the detriment of pasturelands. This results into a growth of socio-economic inequalities between herders. Finally, the third part gathers arguments in favour of pastoralism in Sudanian areas and demonstrates that this production system will continue only if a pastoral land right is created. The analysis of the role and the strategy of each actor gives tools to conduct a policy of consultation on shared use of resources and territorial integration of activities.

Some of Australia’s most pressing conservation problems are found in the arid and semi-arid rangelands where the traditional major land-use is extensive pastoralism. Yet with the emergence of a change in resource values, the rangelands of Australia have started to move away from a strict production land-use towards a multifunctional land-use where pastoralism, tourism and the environment have an influence on one another. With the present mixture of consumption and protection values in the rangelands, ecotourism represents a model for achieving a symbiotic relationship between tourism activity and conservation in a pastoral setting. This study develops a theoretical framework for understanding the relationships between ecotourism, pastoralism and ecological recovery efforts in the Flinders Ranges through employing mixed qualitative and quantitative research techniques to examine the perceptions and practices of tourism operators, local landholders and visitors to the study site. The study finds that while pastoralism and its level of success often remain variable, the strength and stability of tourism is increasing. Because economics is a central component of the concept of sustainability, and because we must manage the environment while accommodating tourists, ecotourism is one way to help reach rangeland sustainability goals, provided that there are adequate levels of agreement amongst the local community and other land users. The results indicate that the vast majority of stakeholders are currently in a state of co-existence with each other rather than one of conflict, suggesting ecotourism has the potential to assist ecological recovery. However, many landholders are constrained in their ability to integrate ecotourism operations and conservation due to economic difficulties and market barriers. There are also conflicting results among visitors who claim to be interested in ecotourism but do not necessarily act accordingly, highlighting the need for a greater focus on environmental education. Ecotourism should be incorporated into a regional sustainability plan where the public are able to assist decision makers through collaborative planning. The thesis concludes that when well-managed, ecotourism can be a business supporting conservation in the Flinders Ranges. It contributes to knowledge of the role that ecotourism can play in encouraging ecological recovery in the rangelands and explores the complex interrelationships involved through consultation with the primary stakeholders of landholders, tourism operators and visitors. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1346333 / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 2008

Vaste plateau de grès découpé d'innombrables vallées sèches au sein du Sahara oriental, le Gilf el-Kebir a servi de zone refuge pendant l'optimum holocène, d'environ 8000 à 4000 avant notre ère. Les données archéologiques permettent de restituer les pratiques quotidiennes et les stratégies de moyen ou long terme des groupes ayant fréquenté la région pendant cet intervalle. L'habitat et la mobilité, la gestion des ressources et approvisionnements et l'organisation des activités sont autant de témoins de la relation de l'homme à son environnement, et de la façon dont il l'exploite pour ses besoins. Au Gilf el-Kebir, l'appropriation de la nature se traduit en termes matériels et idéels. Au VIe millénaire avant notre ère, l'adoption du pastoralisme implique des changements sur le plan de l'économie domestique, de l'organisation sociale et des symboles. Sur les parois des abris du nord-ouest, l'art rupestre traduit en images la façon dont l'homme conceptualise sa place et son rôle au sein de son environnement. Les figurations atypiques de bêtes mi-homme mi-animal participent à notre compréhension des procès de socialisation de la nature. / With its foothills carved by numerous dry valleys, the sandstone plateau of the Gilf el-Kebir has been used as a refuge area in the Eastern Sahara during the Holocene optimum, from around 8000 to 4000 Be. Archaeological data allow understanding the daily practices and also the medium- and long-term strategies of the groups who settled in the region. Housing and mobility, management of resources and procurement and organization of the activities are ail witnesses of the relationship of man to his environment, and how he uses it for his needs. In the Gilf el-Kebir, the appropriation of nature is reflected in the material and conceptual fields. During the VIth millennium BC, the adoption of cattle pastoralism involves changes both in domestic economies and in social and symbolic life. In the northwestern shelters, rock art translates into images the conception that the painters and the engravers had of their own place and role among their environment. The atypical representations of half-human half-animal beasts take part in our understanding of the process for socializing nature.

Ce travail analyse les dynamiques de reconfiguration socio-économique et identitaire auprès des groupes pastoraux habitant les régions rurales au sud de l’Ethiopie, à la frontière avec le Kenya. Les formes d’organisation sociale qui règlent l’accès à l’eau sont considérées en tant que principal outil d’analyse pour comprendre les dynamiques socio-culturelles de ces régions, et cela par la mise en exergue des relations, historiques et contemporaines, entre les populations locales, les autorités étatiques et les organisations internationales du développement et de l'aide humanitaire.Nous analysons les formes d’organisation sociale chez les populations nomades en prêtant une attention particulière aux problématiques d’eau, et plus largement au rapport entre « nature » et « société », dans l’étude de ces groupes. La complexité de l’imbrication sociale de l’eau, ressource dont le caractère naturel et ici mis en question, nous porte à focaliser sur d’autres domaines « extra-hydriques » : les processus de construction des identités ethniques dans les régions du sud-est éthiopien ; les enjeux liés aux intérêts de l’Etat éthiopien visant à incorporer les nomades dans l’ordre politique national ; les stratégies de contrôle du territoire mises en place par les populations locales vis-à-vis de l’Etat et des opérateurs des organisations internationales. Dans ce cadre, l’intervention d’acteurs internationaux est examinée en prenant en compte l'histoire des relations entre populations locales et ONGs – qui se trouve inscrite dans les points d’eau – et en situant les projets de développement dans la perspective dynamique d'une interaction et négociation matérielle et symbolique. / This thesis analyzes socio-economic reconfigurations among pastoral groups living in the southern Ethiopian lowlands on the border with Kenya. Forms of social organization that regulate water access are considered as the main analytical tool for understanding the socio-cultural dynamics in these regions, highlighting historical and contemporary relationships between pastoralists, state authorities and international aid actors.Our approach consists of merging two research axes: the analysis of pastoral social systems and the importance of water issues as part of a wider relationship between nature and society. The social embeddedness of water leads us to focus on the processes of ethnicity, which is used as a tool to analyze nomads’ incorporation in a national political order as well as their local strategies vis-à-vis the State. In this context, the involvement of international aid actors is examined, taking into account the history of NGO intervention and by locating development projects in a dynamic perspective of a material and symbolic negotiation. / « Antropologia politica della gestione dell’acqua in contestopastorale. Riconfigurazioni socioeconomiche ed identitarie presso i Garri del sud Etiopia traStato e ONG »Questa tesi analizza i processi di riconfigurazione sociale ed economica presso lepopolazioni pastorali nelle aree rurali del sud Etiopia, al confine con il Kenya. Le formed’organizzazione che regolano l'accesso all'acqua sono considerate come il principalestrumento per comprendere le dinamiche socio-culturali di queste regioni, evidenziando lerelazioni storiche e contemporanee tra le popolazioni locali, le autorità statali e leorganizzazioni internazionali dello sviluppo dell’aiuto umanitario.La nostra problematica é stata formulata analizzando, da un lato, i sistemi socialipastorali e, dall’altro lato, l’importanza della gestione dell’acqua e più in generale delrapporto tra natura e società nello studio di queste popolazioni. La complessità sociale dellarisorsa idrica ci porta a considerare il processo di costruzione delle identità etniche, l’interessedello stato etiope ad incorporare i nomadi nell'ordine politico nazionale e le strategie dicontrollo del territorio messe in atto dalla popolazione locale. In questo contesto, analizziamoil ruolo delle ONG e le dinamiche di negoziazione materiale e simbolica che hanno luogo nelquadro dei progetti di sviluppo.Se la gestione dei sistemi di irrigazione rappresenta il centro di interesse predominantenella letteratura antropologica sull’acqua, la gestione delle risorse idriche fornisce unaprospettiva di ricerca centrale per lo studio delle società pastorali. Il nostro punto di partenzaè la decostruzione della categoria analitica del « pastore nomade » per rendere conto deifattori economici, politici e socio-culturali in gioco nell’organizzazione dei sistemi sociali edelle pratiche di mobilità pastorali. A tal proposito mostriamo come gli stereotipi riguardol’irrazionalità ecologica della popolazioni pastorali hanno legittimato progetti di sviluppoagricolo e programmi di sedentarizzazione. Adottando un approccio simile a quello utilizzatoper la categoria di « pastore nomade », critichiamo un’idea dell’acqua come semplice risorsanaturale o come risorsa rara per analizzare il rapporto tra la gestione dell’acqua e ledinamiche più ampie di cambiamento sociale. In particolare, sviluppiamo l'analisi dell’acquacome operatore simbolico: a causa dell’associazione tra fattori socio-culturali e ambientalinell'organizzazione dell’accesso ai pozzi, l'acqua rappresenta una risorsa vitale per i pastori eper la riproduzione della comunità.

The recent history of the Turkana of northern Kenya has rarely been explored in detail, a fact that corresponds with, and to a large extent facilitates, their regular portrayal in the popular press as passive, unchanging and therefore vulnerable in the face of ongoing and ensuing socio-economic transformations. Such visions of the Turkana and the region in which they live have, via their manifestation in the policies and practices of development-orientated interventions, actively inhibited (although never fully arrested) the fulfilment of various local desires and aspirations over the years. In addressing these topics, this thesis provides some hitherto largely unexplored and unrecognised historical context to the many socio-economic and political issues surrounding Turkana's ongoing development. It discusses interdisciplinary research which combined archaeological and ethnographic techniques and was undertaken amongst communities engaged in the most prominent livelihoods that have historically underlain the Turkana pastoral economy: fishing (akichem), cultivation (akitare), herding (akiyok) and raiding (aremor). In doing so, it draws attention to some of the ways in which these communities have actively and dynamically negotiated broad economic, environmental and political transformations over the last century and beyond, thereby providing a picture of social change and long-term continuity that might serve as a means for a more critical assessment of regional development over the coming years. By weaving together a series of historical narratives that emerge from a consideration of the changing production, use and exchange of material culture, the thesis builds an understanding of Turkana's history that diverges from more standard, implicitly accepted notions of recent change in such regions of the world that envisage globalisation purely as a process of convergence or homogenisation. Its central argument, which it demonstrates using various examples, is that seemingly disruptive transformations in daily practices, social institutions, livelihoods and systems of livelihood interaction can be envisaged as articulations of longer-term continuities, emerging from a set of durable yet open-ended dispositions within Turkana society and culture. Moreover, rather than being built on a stable, passive repertoire of cultural knowledge, the thesis shows that this capacity for change is established upon a dynamic generative process where value systems and institutions are reconfigured to the same extent as daily practices and skills, as knowledge is continually reconstituted and recast in relation to the shifting constraints and possibilities of daily life. It thus characterises this process as a form of resilience that is deeply rooted in and determinant of the Turkana pastoral economy.

La Corne de l’Afrique comme le reste du continent noir possède une littérature orale traditionnelle riche et variée, qui va de la mythologie pastorale à la poésie en passant par la légende et le conte. Avec les bouleversements sociaux intervenus avec l’arrivée des colons européens et l’introduction de l’écriture, la chaîne de transmission de la tradition orale est menacée. De nombreux Européens ont cherché à décrire les us et coutumes de ces populations. D’autre part, les écrivains de la Corne de l’Afrique s’inspirent souvent de l’oralité en lui octroyant ainsi une nouvelle virginité. Le présent travail de recherche s’efforce de rendre compte des formes traditionnelles de l’oralité et de leur impact sur la littérature moderne. / The Horn of Africa has a traditional oral literature which is rich and varied as the rest of the continent, starting from pastoral mythology to poetry, legend and storytelling. But with the social upheaval which occurred with the arrival of European settlers and the introduction of writing, the chain of transmission of the oral tradition is threatened. Many Europeans have sought to describe the habits and customs of these people. Whereas on the other hand, the writers from the Horn of Africa are often inspired by giving it (orality) and a new way of doing it. The following research work strives to reflect traditional forms of orality and their impact on modern literature.

Dans l’ensemble des cinq massifs préalpins français septentrionaux auquel il appartient, le massif des Bornes-Aravis présente un trait distinctif qui intrigue : celui de ne comporter qu’une réserve naturelle très restreinte, située sur la marge lacustre. En cela, il se démarque de ses homologues et voisins, dotés de vastes parcs naturels régionaux et de géoparcs, garants du maintien d’un cadre de vie de qualité. Rétifs à toute mesure de protection territoriale, les élus locaux affirment que l’empirisme guidé par la sagesse, ainsi que le savoir-être traditionnel des populations locales, se substituent avantageusement à l’établissement d’espaces protégés dont les effets seraient, à leurs dires, préjudiciables au développement économique. Dans ce contexte, on est fondé à éprouver quelques craintes quant à la pérennité de l’esthétique paysagère, qui constitue le facteur indispensable à l’attractivité touristique, moteur essentiel de l’économie alpine. On peut aussi s’interroger sur les chances de voir se maintenir une situation de « double mise en valeur équilibrée » (Bätzing, Rougier, 2006). Bien que s’adaptant volontiers aux impératifs de l’économie contemporaine, la société locale a su jusqu’ici limiter l’altération de sa culture et de son patrimoine naturel. En témoigne un système agro-pastoral dynamique et relativement prospère, indispensable au maintien de la qualité du cadre de vie. Les habitants des Bornes-Aravis déclarent vouloir éviter que leur massif ne devienne un espace de loisirs pour citadins. Les schémas de cohérences territoriales récemment élaborés prennent en compte ces enjeux.L’analyse menée tout au long de cette étude portera une attention toute particulière à l’évolution des dynamiques spatiales influant sur le devenir de la beauté paysagère, qui constitue la richesse essentielle de ces montagnes de moyenne altitude. Celle-ci devrait être valorisée notamment par une médiation scientifique non pas sporadique et fragmentaire telle qu’elle l’est actuellement, mais conçue selon une cohérence en lien avec l’identité du territoire. / Of the five northern french pre-Alpine ranges to which it belongs, the mountains of Bornes-Aravis has a distinctive feature that is intriguing: it has only a very small nature reserve situated on the fringes of Lake Annecy. In this it differs from larger neighboring parks, and more recently, geoparks, all guarantee of maintaining a high quality of life.Reluctant to adopt any measure of territorial protection, local officials say that empiricism guided by wisdom, and traditional know-how of native populations, outweigh the establishment of protected areas whose effects would be prejudicial to their priority of economic development. In this context, it is reasonable to harbour fears about the sustainability of landscape aesthetics, which is an essential factor attracting tourists, a key driver of the alpine economy. Native societies readily adapting to the demands of the modern economy, whilst limiting alterations to their cultural and natural heritage. As a result of that process, one can notice the existence of a dynamic and relatively prosperous agro-pastoral system, essential to maintaining the quality of life. The inhabitants of the country say they want to prevent it forbecoming a land of leisure for city dwellers. However in the absence of specifically protected areas guaranteeing environmental quality, one can only wonder about the chances that the « dual balancing improvement » (Bätzing, Rougier, 2006) will be maintained. Patterns of territorial coherence that have recently been developed aware of these stakes. That is why the analysis conducted throughout this study will pay particular attention to the evolution of spatial dynamics affecting the future of scenic beauty, which constitues the essential richness of these highlands. This matter should be valued notably by a scientific mediation not sporadic and fragmentary such as it is it at present, but conceived according to a coherence in link with the identity of the territory.

No description available.

Grounded in multi-sited fieldwork within an agro-pastoralist highland village in Southwest Angola and in ethnology museums in Europe, Angola and Namibia, my research interweaves an ethnographic and a historical approach to better understand the meanings and social relationships generated by what I call “elusive dolls”: dolls that are difficult to find and slippery when encountered. The study explores postcolonial significances of African dolls, made by agro-pastoralist people, which have been sparsely collected for display in museums since colonial times. Using multiple field methods such as participant observation, archival research, photo-elicitation, and filmmaking, I trace the social relationships involved in the making of dolls in Southwest Angola and in the housing of the same kind of dolls in ethnology museums, paying particular attention to the material and social networks established around the practices of making and collecting them. Following the logic of local languages (olunyaneka, oshikwanyama), I use the notion of “crafted ‘children’” to define handcrafted dolls made of different materials, and address the meanings these dolls embody for makers, collectors and museum curators. I take a historical perspective to examine the dimensions of storage, research and display and address contrasting curatorial approaches to dolls in museums. While most curators have tended to focus on dolls and their supposed functions, a few have engaged with dolls in relation to other domains of the lifeworlds of rural makers and their skilled practices. Examining the limits of historical ethnographic research about local doll-usage, I build upon these alternative approaches by curators and ethnographically explore the relational dimensions of these dolls in two worlds in which they have material and social lives: Southwest Angola and ethnology museums. Firstly, I examine the regional diversity of these dolls, as crafted “children”, in the rural context through a situated understanding of ethnic and ecological diversity and rural-urban relations. Secondly, I explore the twofold notion of labour – that is, the labour in crafting and the labour in making a living - in the regional domestic economy of agro-pastoralist populations, showing how a resilient rural lifestyle, local and urban resources, seasonal demands, and personal skills linked to age and sociality generate and shape the practices of doll-making. Finally, I examine drawing and photography in published and unpublished material about dolls and show how the visual connects the worlds of curators, field-collectors, makers and ethnographers. A large part of the literature on ethnology museum collections tends to focus on “repatriation”, discussing relations between museums and “source communities”. By contrast, an analytical framework connecting doll-making and collecting, the regional conditions of a crafting practice and its local immersion in rural everyday life, appears only marginally in the literature - this is where my research makes a significant contribution. My thesis contributes to critical museology research, Africanist studies, and visual anthropology and engages with debates on materiality and skill. The film that accompanies the thesis, Making a Living in the Dry Season, is grounded in a long-term stay in a village, and examines the twofold notion of labour mentioned above through the practice of doll-making. I recommend first reading the thesis up until Chapter three, followed by watching the film, and then turning to the remaining chapters.