Abstract
The town of Agdz in southeast Morocco was chosen as an applied case for the cooperation project “The Atlas Workshops of Agdz: A model region for a scientific-artistic dialogue.” The aim of the project was to use scientific and artistic approaches to identify transformation processes in the socio-ecological system and the associated impacts on the cultural heritage of the Imazighen (Berbers). Transdisciplinary and intercultural teaching and learning methods provided international students with a holistic view of system contexts and changes and enabled them to analyze and reflect on them. Based on the project results, this chapter discusses transformation processes in Agdz in the course of global change, which pose new challenges for the region. We examine aspects of oasis agriculture, water use, traditional earthen architecture, and the Ahwash ritual, an intangible cultural heritage of the Imazighen. Moreover, we discuss the extent to which transdisciplinarity and interculturality can contribute to a better understanding of the system and foster mediation processes, and what role music and dance play in these. This takes place against the background of the overarching objective of sustainable rural development and socio-ecological resilience.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adeel Z, Bigas H, Schuster B (eds) (2008) What makes traditional technologies tick? A review of traditional approaches for water management in drylands. The United Nations University, Hamilton
Adger N (2000) Social and ecological resilience: are they related? Prog Hum Geogr 24:347–364
Almasude E (2014) Amazighité and secularism: rethinking religious-secular divisions in the Amazigh political imagination. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Educ Soc 3(2):131–151
Baglioni E (2010) Sustainable Vernacular Architecture: the Case of the Draa Valley Ksur (Morocco). In: Proceedings: Sustainable Architecture and Urban Development, 12–14 July, Amman, Jordan, vol IV. pp 227–243
Baglioni E, Rovero L, Tonietti U (2015) Draa valley earthen architecture: construction techniques, pathology and intervention criteria. Conference paper, Restapia Congreso Internacional sobre Restauración de Tapia, Vol. ‘Rammed Earth Conservation’, Valencia, Spain
Belahsen R, Naciri K, El Ibrahimi A (2017) Food security and women’s roles in Moroccan Berber (Amazigh) society today. Mater Child Nutr 13(Suppl 3):e12562. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12562
Bell T, Urhahne D, Schanze S, Ploetzner R (2010) Collaborative inquiry learning: models, tools, and challenges. Int J Sci Educ 3(1):349–377
Berkes F, Colding J, Folke C (2001) Linking social-ecological systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Bhabha HK (1994) The location of culture. Routledge, New York
Biggs J (1996) Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. High Educ 32:347–364
Boudraa N, Krause J (2009) North African mosaic: a cultural reappraisal of ethnic and religious minorities. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Cardinale BJ, Duffy JE, Gonzalez A et al (2012) Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity. Nature 486(7401):59–67
Chapin FS III, Kofinas GP, Folke C (eds) (2009) Principles of ecosystem stewardship -resilience-based natural resource management in a changing world. Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin
Daily GC, Ehrlich PR (1992) Population, sustainability, and earth’s carrying capacity: a framework for estimating population sizes and lifestyles that could be sustained without undermining future generations. Bioscience 42(10):761–771
Dostál J (2015) Inquiry-based instruction: concept, essence, importance and contribution. Palacký University, Olomouc
Folke C (2006) Resilience: the emergence of a perspective for social-ecological systems analysis. Glob Environ Chang 16:253–267
Ennaji M (1997) The sociology of Berber: change and continuity. Int J Sociol Lang 123:23–40
Gellner E (1970) Saints of the atlas. The Trinity Press, Worcester
Graf K (2010) Drinking water supply in the Middle Draa Valley, South Morocco - options for action in the context of water scarcity and institutional constraints. Kölner Ethnologische Beiträge, Köln, p 34
Gunderson LH, Holling CS (2002) Panarchy: understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Island Press, Washington
Hanna T (1986) What is somatics? J Behav Optom 2(2):31–35
Hardin G (1986) Cultural carrying capacity: a biological approach to human problems. Bioscience 36:599–606
Haut-Commissariat au Plan (2019) Population légale des régions, provinces, préfectures, municipalités, arrondissements et communes du Royaume d’après les résultats du RGPH 2014, Rabat. Last Accessed 10 Jan 2019
Heidecke C (2009) Economic analysis of water use and management in the Middle Draa valley in Morocco. Dissertation, University of Bonn, Germany
Heidecke C, Heckelei T (2010) Impacts of changing water inflow distributions on irrigation and farm income along the Drâa River in Morocco. Agric Econ 41(2):135–149
Hoffman KE (2008) We share walls. Language, land, and gender in Berber Morocco. Blackwell Publishing, Malden
Hood M (1960) The challenge of bi-musicality. Ethnomusicology 4(2):55–59
Elfasi M, Hrbek I (eds) (1988) General history of Africa III, Africa from the seventh to the eleventh century. UNESCO Publishing, Paris
Huber-Sannwald E, Ribeiro Palacios M, Arredondo Moreno JT et al (2012) Navigating challenges and opportunities of land degradation and sustainable livelihood development in dryland social-ecological systems: a case study from Mexico. Philos Trans R Soc Lond Ser B Biol Sci 367(1606):3158–3177
Ilahiane H (2006) Historical dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen). Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: global and sectoral aspects. In: Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Jay C (2016) Playing the ‘Berber’: the performance of Amazigh identities in contemporary Morocco. J North Afr Stud 21(1):68–80
Johannsen IM, Hengst JC, Goll A et al (2016) Future of water supply and demand in the Middle Draa Valley, Morocco, under climate and land use change. Water 8(8):313
Karmaoui A, Messouli M, Yacoubi Khebiza M, Ifaadassan I (2014) Environmental vulnerability to climate change and anthropogenic impacts in dryland (Pilot Study: Middle Draa Valley, South Morocco). J Earth Sci Clim Chan S11:1
Karmaoui A, Ifaadassan I, Babqiqi A et al (2016) Analysis of the water supply-demand relationship in the Middle Draa Valley, Morocco, under climate change and socio-economic scenarios. J Sci Res Rep 9:1–10
Keenan J (2002) Tourism, development and conservation: a Saharan perspective. In: Mattingly DJ et al (eds) Natural Resources and Cultural Heritage of the Libyan Desert: Proceedings of a Conference held in Libya 14–21
Lafkioui, MB (2018) Berber languages and linguistics. Oxord bibliographies. https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199772810-0219
Maddy-Weitzman B (2001) Contested identities: Berbers, ‘Berberism’ and the state in North Africa. J North Afr Stud 6(3):23–47
Maddy-Weitzman B (2006) Ethno-politics and globalisation in North Africa: the Berber culture movement. J North Afr Stud 11(1):71–84
Maddy-Weitzman B (2011) The Berber identity movement and the challenge to North African states, 1st edn. University of Texas Press, Austin
Mileto C, Vegas F, Cristini V (eds) (2012) Rammed earth conservation. International Conference on Rammed Earth Conservation; Restapia. CRC Press, Boca Raton
MA (2005) Millennium ecosystem assessment MEA - ecosystems and human well-being: synthesis. Island Press, Washington
Montagne R (1973) The Berbers: their social and political organisation. T. & A. Constable LTD, Edinburgh
Moussaid J, Fora AA, Zourarah B et al (2015) Using automatic computation to analyze the rate of shoreline change on the Kenitra coast, Morocco. Ocean Eng 102:71–77
Ostrom E (1990) Governing the commons. The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Rademacher-Schulz C (2014) The making of the social order – migration, resource and power conflicts in the Moroccan Draa Valley. Erdkunde 68(3):173–183
Rockström J, Steffen W, Noone K et al (2009) Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecol Soc 14(2):32
Sadiqi F (2007) The role of Moroccan women in preserving Amazigh language and culture. Mus Int 59(4):26–33
Schuyler PD (1979) Rwais and ahwash: opposing tendencies in Moroccan Berber music and society. World Music 21(1):65–80
Shoup JA (2011) Ethnic groups of Africa and the Middle East: an encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara
Soja EW (1996) Third space: journeys to Los Angeles and other real-and-imagined places. Blackwell, Malden
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (2017) The global land outlook, 1st edn. UNCCD, Bonn
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014) World urbanization prospects: the 2014 revision, highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/352), New York
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018) World urbanization prospects: the 2018 revision, methodology, working paper No. ESA/P/WP.252, New York
Vorlaufer K (1999) Tourismus und Kulturwandel auf Bali. Geogr Z 87(1):29–45
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our sincerest thanks to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Federal Foreign Office for funding the Atlas Workshops project. Furthermore, we are very grateful to Mr. M’Barek Ait El Kaid for providing us the space in his Kasbah and his valuable time for scientific discussion and practical support. Our heartfelt thanks go to the amazing Ahwash ensemble from Agdz, particularly to Boubker Marrouk, Mohamed Belahcen, and Abdessamad Belahcen, as well as to Prof. Vera Sander who played a decisive role in shaping the artistic part of the project. Furthermore, we would like to thank Prof. Dr. Youness Belahsen and Prof. Dr. Ahmed Ait Hou for their great support. We further thank the community of Agdz with the associations Assalam and the German NGO Dindum who supported the project activities. We are also very grateful to the Villa des Arts, the association La Paix/Salaam, and the Goethe-Institut for supporting the closing event in Rabat. Finally, we would like to thank Michael Maurissens (artist and film maker), Nezha Rhondali (dancer), Tom Dams (sound engineer), Justyna Niznik (violin player), Manfred Fahnert, Marc Haering, Jana Nolting, Florian Schick, Roman Seliger (scientific support), Belaid Zouhair (logistic support), and the students from science and arts: Oumaima Ait El Kaid, Francesco d’Amelio, Elsa Artmann, Margherita Dello Sbarba, Houda Dribila, Silvia Enis Duarte, Mohamed El-Hodaiby, Maximiliano Estudios, Mariana Garcia de la Torre, Leonie Gembler, Katharina Gübel, Diego Alexander Guarin Cifuentes, Karina Klein, Oumaima Kharkhach, Mihyun Ko, Linda Madio Ngankeng Epse Kemeni, Wyam Mardoukh, Alaa Obeid, Brahim Oumahrir, Maria Isabel Meza Rodríguez, Raphael Pak Lau, Anne-Lene Nöldner, Kenechukwu Albert Okoye, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Jannis Sicker, Marcella Ulrike Sobisch, Svenja Speen, Thea Soti, Seyedeh Taraneh Mousavi, José Carlos Tello Valle Hiriart, Dimitrios Thanos, Yannick Tiemann, and Moritz Wesp.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nehren, U. et al. (2020). The Atlas Workshops of Agdz, Morocco: A Model Region for a Scientific–Artistic Dialogue. In: Lucatello, S., Huber-Sannwald, E., Espejel, I., Martínez-Tagüeña, N. (eds) Stewardship of Future Drylands and Climate Change in the Global South. Springer Climate. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22464-6_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22464-6_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-22463-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-22464-6
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)