Tangible and Intangible Heritage in the Age of Globalisation E-Book

Lilia Makhloufi

• Herausgeber: Open Book Publishers
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

This book offers a rich collection of perspectives on the complex interplay between tangible and intangible heritage.


Offering a close and critical examination of heritage preservation in countries including Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Oman, Syria and Tunisia, these essays illustrate the need to redefine heritage as an interdisciplinary and intercultural concept. They interrogate heritage paradigms while also providing concrete recommendations to promote the preservation of physical heritage spaces, and the cultural practices and social relationships that depend on them.


Rich in detail and broad in relevance, this book emphasises specific cultural realities while also reflecting on the impact of global historical, social, economic and political trends to heritage conservation, scrutinising the conditions of the past to adapt them to the needs of the present and future. It will be of great relevance to all those interested in the preservation and management of heritage sites, including architects, urban planners, landscape architects, historians, sociologists and archaeologists, as well as heritage marketing, museum and cultural tourism professionals

Leseprobe

TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE HERITAGE IN THE AGE OF GLOBALISATION

Tangible and Intangible Heritage in the Age of Globalisation

Edited by Lilia Makhloufi

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©2024 Lilia Makhloufi (ed.). Copyright of individual chapters is maintained by the chapter authors or their estate.

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Lilia Makhloufi (ed.), Tangible and Intangible Heritage in the Age of Globalisation. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2024, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0388

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ISBN Paperback: 978-1-80511-212-9

ISBN Hardback: 978-1-80511-213-6

ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-80511-214-3

ISBN Digital ebook (EPUB): 978-1-80511-215-0

ISBN DIGITAL ebook (HTML): 978-1-80511-217-4

DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0388

Cover image: Ghardaïa, Algeria, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Photograph by Lilia Makhloufi (2007). All rights reserved.

Cover design by Jeevanjot Kaur Nagpal

Contents

Scientific and review committees

Notes on contributors

List of illustrations

Preface

Lilia Makhloufi

Introduction: Tangible and Intangible Heritage

Lilia Makhloufi

I. BUILT HERITAGE AND RESIDENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. Socio-Spatial Practices of a Community Living Beneath the Land in Beni Zelten, South-Eastern Tunisia

Houda Driss

2. Impact of Jurisprudential Heritage in the Organisation of the Medina of Tunis: Joint Ownership, Social Practices and Customs

Meriem Ben Ammar

II. CULTURAL HERITAGE AND INTANGIBLE COMPONENTS

3. Revisiting Definitions and Challenges of Intangible Cultural Heritage: The Case of the Old Centre of Mashhad

Sepideh Shahamati, Ayda Khaleghi and Sasan Norouzi

4. Promoting the Role of Egyptian Museums in Nurturing and Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage

Heba Khairy

5. Syrian Intangible Cultural Heritage: Characteristics and Challenges of Preservation

Nibal Muhesen

III. LIVING HERITAGE AND CULTURAL TOURISM POTENTIAL

6. Mutrah Old Market, Oman: Analysis to Enhance a Living Heritage Site

Mohamed Amer

7. Study on the Visual Perception of Historical Streetscapes Using Kansei Engineering: Cherchell City, Algeria

Lemya Kacha and Mouenes Abd Elrrahmane Bouakar

8. Western Churches in Nagasaki and Amakusa as Sites of Memory

Joanes Rocha

IV. HERITAGE SITES AND PRESERVATION CHALLENGES

9. Tradition Versus Modernity in Heritage Preservation Discourse in Postcolonial Morocco: Jemaa el-Fna Plaza, Marrakesh

Assia Lamzah

10. Integrity and Authenticity: Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works (Chile)

Fabiola Solari Irribarra and Guillermo Rojas Alfaro

11. (Identity) Politics and the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Aliye Fatma Mataracı

Conclusion: Heritage in the Age of Globalisation

Lilia Makhloufi

Index

Je dédie ce livre à mes parents, pour m’avoir inculqué le sens de la responsabilité, ainsi que l’importance de l’honnêteté et du travail bien fait.

This publication is a result of the research project ‘Tangible and Intangible Heritage: Architecture, Design and Culture’, conducted by Prof. Dr. Lilia Makhloufi and Prof. Dr. Ammar Abdulrahman, members of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA). The research project was funded by the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) based in the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) in Germany.

Disclaimer: The authors remain solely responsible for the content provided in this publication, which do not reflect the positions of AGYA or any of its funding partners.

Scientific and review committees

All chapters have been evaluated by an international scientific committee and an international review committee consisting of researchers from various academic backgrounds.

Scientific coordinator and chair of the scientific and review committees

Dr. Lilia Makhloufi, Ecole Polytechnique d’Architecture et d’Urbanisme (EPAU), Algiers, Algeria. Member of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA), Berlin, Germany

Scientific committee members

Prof. Lalla Btissam Drissi, LPHE-Modeling & Simulations, Faculty of Science, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco (AGYA Alumna)

Prof. Ahmad Sakhrieh, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, School of Engineering, American University of Ras Al Khaimah, 10021, United Arab Emirates. Mechanical Engineering Department, the University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan (AGYA Alumnus)

Dr. Alaa Aldin Alchomari, Islamische Abteilung an der Uni Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.

Dr. Honey Fadaie, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University (RIAU), Roudehen, Tehran, Iran.

Dr. Fanny Gerbeaud, Higher National School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ENSAP), Bordeaux, France. PAVE Research Centre, Bordeaux, France.

Dr. Ikram Hili, University of Sousse, Tunisia (AGYA Member)

Dr. Nibal Muhesen, Cultural heritage expert at the Directorate general of antiquities and museums (DGAM), Damascus, Syria, and researcher at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Review committee members

Prof. Khalid El Harrouni, Ecole Nationale d’Architecture, Rabat, Morocco.

Prof. Assia Lamzah, Institut National d’Aménagement et d’Urbanisme, Rabat, Morocco.

Dr. Ammar Abdulrahman, Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies of the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany (AGYA Alumnus)

Dr. Safa Achour, National School of Architecture and Urbanism of Tunis, Tunisia.

Dr. Aline Barlet, Higher National School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ENSAP), Bordeaux, France.

Dr. Honey Fadaie, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University (RIAU), Roudehen, Tehran, Iran.

Dr. Fanny Gerbeaud, Higher National School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ENSAP), Bordeaux, France. PAVE Research Centre, Bordeaux, France.

Dr. Nibal Muhesen, Cultural heritage expert at the Directorate general of antiquities and museums (DGAM), Damascus, Syria, and researcher at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Ms. Carmen Antuña Rozado, Senior Scientist, MSc (Arch), VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Helsinki, Finland.

Ms. Maryam Mirzaeii, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University (RIAU), Roudehen, Tehran, Iran.

Notes on contributors

Mohamed Amer holds a PhD in Heritage Marketing and Sustainable Cultural Tourism from Roma Tre Università, Italy. He is a HeritageForAll initiative founder and ICOMOS-ICTC member. He has an extensive background in heritage management and marketing and holds an MA in Heritage Conservation and Site Management from BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and Helwan University (2015), and has taken part in many activities organised by UNESCO and other international organisations. He participated in Oecumene Studio, as a researcher, in the heritage project ‘SIWI’. He led two international internship programs in ‘Rural Heritage and Traditional Food’ and ‘Musealization of Cultural Identity’.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1471-3856

Meriem Ben Ammar is a PhD student in Architecture at the University of Cagliari Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture. She obtained both an undergraduate and master’s degree in Architecture from the Tunis National School of Architecture and Urbanism and holds a second master’s degree in Heritage Sciences: Islamic Archaeology from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tunis, where she prepared her master’s thesis on Islamic legal manuscripts.

ORCID ID: 0009-0007-6861-6054

Mouenes Abd Elrrahmane Bouakar is an architect who obtained his master’s degree at the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Batna-1, Algeria. He has participated in several projects, such as the elaboration of the Protection and Enhancement Plan of the archaeological site of Zemmouri el Bahri and its area, the study and the follow-up of the restoration of the Sidi Messaoud mosque in Oued Souf and thirty-three lots in the safeguarded sector of the Kasbah of Algiers (lots 03, 04, 06 and 31), and the elaboration of the Permanent Development Plan of the Safeguarded Sector of the old town of Sidi el Houari in Oran.

ORCID ID: 0009-0000-2692-2837

Houda Driss obtained a doctorate in architecture in 2017, graduating from the Doctoral School of Architectural Sciences and Engineering at the National School of Architecture and Urbanism of Tunis (ENAU). She was university teacher from 2011 to 2015 at ENAU and from 2015 to 2021 at the Private Polytechnic School Ibn Khaldoun.She is a part of the research unit PAE3C (Architectural and Environmental Heritage: Knowledge, Understanding, Conservation) at ENAU, and a member of the Technical Referee Committee for the magazine Sustainable Mediterranean Construction, Land Culture, Research and Technology. She is also a consultant to the Tunisian Mediterranean Association for historical, social and economic studies.

ORCID ID: 0009-0001-9439-8886

Lemya Kacha is associate professor at the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Batna-1, Algeria. She received her PhD in engineering from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan. She contributed a chapter about the fractal measurements of morphological identity related to urban fabrics in the book Villes, Réseaux et Transport, le défi fractal, which was edited by Professor Gabriel Dupuy. In 2015, Lemya received the best paper award of the Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2527-5356

Heba Khairy is project coordinator at the Grand Egyptian Museum and a PhD candidate specialising in heritage and museum studies. She has participated in many international and national projects and studies focusing on the safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, preservation, local community engagement and development. In 2016 she participated in the ‘Memphis site management and Community development project’ supported by the USAID and York University. In 2018 she participated in a study project aiming to safeguard the Syrian dance and musical performance ‘Al A’rada’, hosted in Egypt. In 2019 she participated in a study project aiming to safeguard the Egyptian traditional stitch handcraft known as ‘Al Khayameia’.

ORCID ID: 0009-0000-8090-7945

Ayda Khaleghi is a researcher, architect, and 3D artist, with an interest in contemporary and classic architectural design, cultural heritage valorization, and historical restoration. She has been involved in multiple research projects related to historical renovations and mapping tangible and intangible heritage in the city of Mashhad. She has also been focused on the recent developments in Mashhad’s city center and documentation of its rich historical values.

ORCID ID: 0009-0009-1001-0492

Assia Lamzah is a trained architect and holds a PhD in Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC), USA. She is currently a professor at Ecole Nationale d’Architecture (ENA), Rabat, Morocco. She has experience in teaching and research in architecture, urban and regional planning and landscape architecture. Her recent research projects focus on urban and architectural cultural heritage management, smart design, the relationship between architecture, landscape and social culture, and postcolonial theory.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1875-8632

Lilia Makhloufi is an architect and urban planner. She obtained her magister’s degree in urban planning in 2003, and her doctorate of science in territory planning in 2009 and her postdoctoral degree (habilitation) with accreditation to supervise research in 2019. As a teacher and researcher, she worked at the University of Constantine, the University of Jijel and since 2010 at Ecole Polytechnique d’Architecture et d’Urbanisme (EPAU) in Algiers. She is also a member of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA), based in the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) in Germany. Her main research experience and international collaborations are related to housing projects, public spaces, cities and sustainability.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8778-5132

Aliye Fatma Mataracı studied at Boğaziçi University, where she earned a PhD in history, an MA in sociology, and a BA in philosophy, as well as Istanbul Bilgi University, where she obtained an MA in film and TV studies. As a representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, she actively participated in the project ‘Heritage at War in the Mediterranean Region’ carried out by the Ifpo Urban Observatory between 2015 and 2017. She also held several administrative roles at the International University of Sarajevo during her affiliation with Political Sciences Program from 2011 to 2023. Currently, she is as an associate professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco.

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8289-8763

Nibal Muhesen is a Syrian researcher in the field of archaeology and the protection of Syrian cultural heritage. He obtained a PhD from the University of Lyon II in Syrian archaeology in 2009. Since 2011, he has been involved in documenting the damage to Syrian cultural heritage and has participated in many international lectures and conferences aimed at protecting this heritage. He worked as an expert with the Syrian State Board of Antiquities where he took part in activities focusing on preserving and raising awareness about the importance of Syria’s tangible and intangible heritage and advocating for community-driven reconstruction strategies. He is currently a member of the Department of Tourism Management at the University of Tartous Faculty of Tourism as a researcher in the field of archaeology and tourism.

ORCID ID: 0009-0009-6050-5303

Sasan Norouzi is an Iranian senior researcher at the department of Cultural Heritage at Samen Research Institute. In the past twenty years, Sasan has been teaching and lecturing at various universities and institutions of higher education in Iran. Adopting a humanistic, cultural, and innovative approach, Sasan has been leading projects that aim at conserving cultural heritage and revitalizing historic zones of urban areas including protecting and reusing water structures in ancient cities. His current research interests and activities include using cultural mapping tools and mitigation strategies to study the impact of social behavior, customs, and traditions on the conservation of urban heritage.

ORCID ID: 0009-0003-1401-0517

Joanes Rocha is an architectural historian and graduate research student at the University of Tokyo, Japan. Simultaneously, he holds the position of assistant professor of theory and history of architecture and is a visiting scholar at the Academia Sinica, Taipei. His research is centred on the Portuguese presence in East Asia from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, with a primary focus on preserving and safeguarding this historical heritage.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4841-9658

Guillermo Rojas Alfaro is an architect (2012), MSc The Bartlett University College London (2015), and PhD candidate at the Melbourne School of Design (MSD). Before starting his PhD research in Atmospheres, Guillermo was an Assistant Professor of the MArch and Head of the Cultural Heritage Diploma at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). For the past ten years, he has been an educator in architecture, teaching at several universities in Chile, Brazil, Germany, Belgium and Australia. His work as an architect has been awarded, published and presented in different exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale and the Chilean Architecture Biennial. Currently, he teaches at the MSD and is a member of the PUC Heritage and Modernity Research Cluster.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2699-0930

Sepideh Shahamati is a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University, Canada. Her research focuses on identifying and documenting the intangible heritage of cities. With a particular interest in visual representations, she is developing a systematic mapping method to represent the invisible assets of urban areas. She holds an MA in Architecture, Planning and Landscape from Newcastle University and a BSc in Urban Planning from Azad University of Mashhad. Her previous work involves understanding and assessing the public perception of green urban landscapes.

ORCID ID: 0009-0006-1175-8249

Fabiola Solari Irribarra is an architect, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) and Master of Urban and Cultural Heritage, University of Melbourne (UoM). Between 2013 and 2019, she taught design and research studios at the PUC School of Architecture, where she was coordinator and instructor of three versions of the Cultural Heritage Diploma. She worked as chief architect and coordinator of built heritage projects in the Chilean firm Tándem for four years, where she collaborated in multiple interdisciplinary public projects. She currently works for the Melbourne-based heritage firm Conservation Studio and is a member of the PUC Heritage and Modernity Research Cluster.

ORCID ID: 0009-0004-0799-6338

List of illustrations

Fig. 1.1

Percentage of use of each space invertical troglodytic dwellings. Author’s graph, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 1.2

Spatial characteristics according to female/male/family activity types. Author’s graphs, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 1.3

Spatial characteristics according to the degree of privacy (private, semi-private and common). Author’s graphs, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 2.1

Medina of Tunis, example of a party wall used by one of the neighbours as a support for its construction of an upper floor. Author’s photograph, 2017, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 2.2

Types of stretcher bond and adjacency connection. Author’s illustration, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 2.3

Cases of contiguous properties without concrete connection. Author’s illustration, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 2.4

Cases of connection to the two properties. Author’s illustration, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 2.5

Where the wall is connected to only one of the properties either by adjacency connection or stretcher bond. Author’s illustration, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 3.1

Street installations for free food distribution during the month of Moharram, Mashhad. Author’s photograph, 2016, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 3.2

Street marches towards the Holy Shrine during the Month of Moharram, Mashhad. Author’s photograph, 2016, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 3.3

Street performance during Moharram, Mashhad. Author’s photograph, 2016, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 4.1

Egyptian artist weaving a hand stitch portrait, Al-Khayameia traditional market, historical Cairo, Egypt. Author’s photograph, 2019, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 6.1

El-Zakwany House, Mutrah Fort and Historic Enclosure Wall. Author’s photograph, 2018, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 6.2

Changes of traditional material (including new building material and design). Development project 2004–2005. Author’s photograph, 2018, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 6.3

Mutrah Market Old Gate after the development project that took place in 2004–2005. Author’s photograph, 2018, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 6.4andFig. 6.5

Lack of conservation criteria in Mutrah. Al Khonji House, al Khonji Boutique Hotels Project (Al-Khonji Real Estate and Development LLC). Author’s photograph, 2018, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 6.6

Old house after development; al Khonji Boutique Hotels Project (Al-Khonji Real Estate and Development LLC). Author’s photograph, 2018, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 7.1

Routes to reach Kansei. Author’s diagram, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 7.2

A typology of openings from the Islamic and French colonial periods. Author’s illustration, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 7.3

Procedure of the experiment. Author’s photograph, 2020, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 7.4

Example of the experiment using the virtual reality headset. Author’s photograph, 2020, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 7.5

Comparison between the mean evaluation scores of three different heritages. Author’s graphs, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 9.1

Overview of Jemaa el-Fna Plaza. Author’s photograph, 2021, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 10.1

Santa Laura Saltpeter Works. Photograph by Diego Ramírez, 2019, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 10.2

The public heart of Humberstone, with the plaza surrounded by the pulpería, the market and the hotel in photograph from the theatre. Photograph by Juan Vásquez Trigo, 2012, CC BY.

Fig. 10.3

Humberstone theatre and housing. Photograph by Jorge López, 2019, Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 10.4

Succession of woods, corrugated zinc plates, caliche grounds and hills to define the view to the northwest of the camp and the industrial sector. Photograph by Juan Vásquez Trigo, 2012, CC BY.

Fig. 10.5

The old theatre of La Palma, transformed into the Boy Scouts headquarters. Photograph by Juan Vásquez Trigo, 2012, CC BY.

Fig. 10.6

In the picture, Santa Laura’s chimney and leaching plant are visible. Photograph by Jorge López (2019), Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural, CC BY-NC-ND

Fig. 11.1

Entrance of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Photograph by Yunus Demirbaş, 2021, CC BY-NC-ND.

Fig. 11.2

Stećci in the Botanical Garden, National Museum. Photograph by Yunus Demirbaş, 2021, CC BY-NC-ND.

Preface

Lilia Makhloufi

Tangible and Intangible Heritage in the Age of Globalisation considers heritage in different contexts from an interdisciplinary perspective, bringing together sixteen contributors from various fields. They include architects, urban planners, historians, sociologists and archaeologists, as well as heritage marketing, museum and cultural tourism professionals. These experts come from all over the world—Algeria, Canada, Chile, Egypt, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Türkiye—representing a diversity of scholarship which offers a broad range of insights on the topic of heritage.

The book is the outcome of an academic research project initiated and directed by Lilia Makhloufi under the title ‘Tangible and Intangible Heritage: Architecture, Design and Culture’.1 The research project was funded by the Arab–German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) based in the Berlin–Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) in Germany. The scientific coordinator and the chair of the scientific and review committees would like to thank AGYA and the contributors to this volume as well as the members of the scientific and review committees for their comments during the review process to improve the submitted chapters. Their active contributions and their interesting recommendations on theoretical and practical approaches related to heritage contributed to the success of the publication project.

Dr. Lilia Makhloufi

Scientific coordinator

Scientific and review committees Chair

1 The project was run under grant 01DL20003 from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Introduction: Tangible and Intangible Heritage

Lilia Makhloufi

©2024 Lilia Makhloufi, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0388.00

The old part of a city has always been a reference point in architecture, either from the urban perspective or from the building perspective. Traditional cities were shaped by a conceptual framework with conscious responses to environmental, urban and societal conditions. Over the centuries, this vernacular architecture encouraged a local style that manifested in ordinary houses with unified construction techniques and materials, and the harmonisation of the built framework and physical features.

This book analyses the architectural and urban spaces that shape cities’ tangible heritage, considering the urban networks, residential spaces and materials and methods of construction. The book also examines the parameters governing societies’ intangible heritage by defining: (i) individuals according to local identities, cultures and religions, (ii) behaviours rooted in local ways of life and social values, and (iii) practices including local customs, feasts and festivals.

Globalisation has developed the international standardisation of architecture and urban planning to the detriment of the representation of local identity and culture. In this sense, greater efforts have been made to protect local heritage and develop it through national and international organisations. However, the concepts of integrity and authenticity are challenged by international charters and academia. For instance, heritage sites are inscribed on the World Heritage List only if their integrity and authenticity are beyond question, ensuring their Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) in this way.

Today, heritage is subject to the transformation of cultures and the displacement of societies. Moreover, the number of studies on heritage has multiplied, as the currents of globalisation lend new exigence to its study and management. In this book, sixteen researchers from various disciplines―such as architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, history, sociology, archaeology, heritage marketing, museum and cultural tourism―share their approaches to heritage, with perspectives on localities in the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, South America and Eastern Asia. More specifically, they focus on topics that will enrich the debate about the past, present and future of heritage in their respective countries and beyond.

Our collaboration on this book has sparked a fruitful exchange with the objective of redefining heritage as an interdisciplinary and intercultural concept. The contributors examine architectural, urban and cultural heritage, studying tangible and intangible parameters over time and discussing cultural challenges and opportunities. They analyse the conditions of the past with a focus on informing the present and the future. As a result, this book features case studies on Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Oman, Syria and Tunisia, which are presented over the course of eleven chapters, structured according to the following themes.

The first part of the book brings together architects who give their perspectives on built heritage in Tunisia. Reflecting on residential characteristics, these chapters explore social and spatial practices in traditional dwellings.

Houda Driss analyses ancestral ways of occupying and appropriating space within the ‘troglodytic’ dwellings in the village of Beni Zelten, located in southeast Tunisia. Her research examines this architecture with respect to its natural environment and historical longevity, before identifying and analysing the socio-spatial practices inside these living spaces. The combination of theoretical and practical aspects of troglodytic spaces enables her to enumerate the activities practised in this context, which she then classifies according to the user type, degree of privacy and frequency of practice. In this way, she demonstrates how the underground dwellings in the Tunisian village of Beni Zelten reflect and respond to the natural environment, social factors and cultural values.

Meriem Ben Ammar focuses on architecture and town planning in the medina of Tunis, highlighting norms and rules relevant to the spatial organisation of houses, the material separation between neighbours and the management of the city in general. She analyses an archived manuscript dating from the eighteenth century on Hanafi law, written by Tunisian jurist Muhammad bin Ḥusayn bin Ibrahim al-Bārūdīal-Ḥanafī. This manuscript offers fair solutions to conflicts over property ownership, construction forms and housing issues between inhabitants and their closest neighbours. Over many centuries, this intellectual heritage encouraged a unified system of construction in the walled medina of Tunis, an organisation of its urban network and the preservation of its neighbourhood relationships.

Housing is a social space and includes the material context of social life.1 Yet, most of the time, housing is considered material data. However, we should be aware that housing is, above all, the product of a given society. This privileged place, in which people represent themselves and construct their lives, illustrates the codes of the society in which they live. By the intimacy that it preserves or the openness that it promotes, housing expresses a particular conception of social life. Moreover, the organisation of its spaces and the nature of its furniture represent a way of life and a culture, from which it is possible to discern the importance of the individual in every housing analysis.2

The second part of the book brings together architects, archaeologists and museum professionals, who give their perspectives on intangible components of cultural heritage in Iran, Egypt and Syria. More specifically, they examine local heritage, studying changes in collective memory over time, cultural challenges and opportunities.

In the twenty-first century, urban development effectively takes place according to socio-economic requirements. Local cultures, religious values and identities are increasingly neglected in decision-making processes in favour of the measurable and quantifiable data available in architectural and urban projects. This has resulted in the transformation of neighbourhoods, the transfer of local populations and the loss of many traditions and other cultural practices for present and future generations.

In this context, Sepideh Shahamati, Ayda Khaleghi and Sasan Norouzi consider the case of the Iranian city of Mashhad. In the last decade, this city—and more precisely, its centre—has undergone different urban transformations, which have had a considerable impact on both its built and cultural heritage. The case of Mashhad’s historic centre recalls the importance of reconceptualising intangible cultural heritage in decision-making processes and the challenges of its preservation in the twenty-first century, especially in the case of cities which were built and have developed according to spiritual and religious values.

Moreover, Heba Khairy analyses the museums of Egypt, a country renowned for its tangible and intangible heritage. Certainly, artefacts have been preserved in Egyptian museums since the twentieth century, but, to date, museum practice has been overwhelmingly concerned with tangible heritage, to the neglect of its intangible counterpart. As such, this research seeks to uncover viable solutions for the incorporation and development of intangible heritage in Egyptian museums. This is achieved by providing a conceptual prototype that will allow practitioners to safeguard and develop intangible cultural heritage, particularly in terms of living memory and communal identities.

Nibal Muhesen focuses on the case of intangible cultural heritage in Syria, which has suffered considerable destruction due to the conflicts of recent years. He underlines the importance of reviving all forms of local crafts, oral traditions, arts performance and old Souqs, with the objective of protecting the collective memory of communities and their cultural identities. He also suggests strategies for the protection of intangible cultural heritage, identifies challenges to its survival and emphasises the need for effective reconstruction efforts for all components of Syrian heritage.

The major obstacles to preserving tangible and intangible heritage in times of conflict are the subject of a great deal of contemporary discussion among researchers. They note the difficulties of safeguarding built heritage, on the one hand, and of protecting cultural heritage on the other. Indeed, several studies on archaeological sites, artefacts and historical monuments have been undertaken for the purposes of post-war damage assessment and the development of recovery policy. In the meantime, handicrafts, collective memories and cultural identities have suffered relatively less damage and could be more rapidly and easily revived.

The third part of the book brings together architects, historians and heritage management professionals who reflect on the cultural tourism potential in Oman, Algeria and Japan. They examine historic sites, studying the shape and content of their urban networks, buildings, infrastructure and spaces with respect to socio-cultural values.

Mohamed Amer examines the tangible and intangible heritage characteristics of the traditional market of Mutrah in Oman’s capital city of Muscat. He assesses its interactive historic, architectural, urban, social, economic and cultural values alongside their managerial features, in order to identify practical measures for the enhancement of this living cultural heritage, the effective preservation of Omani cultural identity, avenues for local socio-economic empowerment and sustainable cultural tourism. Here, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analyses brought to light the internal and external factors that are favourable to achieving these objectives.

SWOT analyses have the potential to be a valuable tool in development processes and heritage conservation. Public spaces and streets in particular have a direct impact on the townscape, and their fundamental nature impacts the visual comfort of pedestrians (inhabitants, passers-by, tourists, merchants, etc.) and the attractiveness of the city for domestic and foreign visitors.

The historical and architectural significance of public spaces play an important role in preserving the identity of the heritage city. In this context, Lemya Kacha and Mouenes Abd Elrrahmane Bouakar investigate public spaces and their impact on the local community in the historic centre of Cherchell in Algeria, which has rich Punic, Roman, Arab-Andalusian, Ottoman and French heritage. The main objective of their analysis is to assess the perceptions and attractiveness of selected streetscapes among domestic tourists. Here, the Kansei Engineering method allowed them to quantify participants’ perceptions of streetscapes based on panoramic photographs. Through this method, which has significant potential in the field of sustainable cultural tourism and heritage conservation, the researchers found that the originality of the materials and the construction techniques are the main factors that have led to the preservation of heritage value. Moreover, the attractiveness of architectural heritage will contribute to enhancing both cultural and heritage tourism in the long term.

The important role of historical and cultural richness in attracting tourism is also evident in Japan, which has excelled in dealing with the living heritage. The principal agency for preserving Japan’s cultural properties has promoted churches as one of the region’s leading tourism destinations and integrated museums and souvenir shops to encourage touristic activities around these cultural and religious sites of memory. The objective of this strategy is to restructure the leisure industry and to moderate the impact of tourism on the local community lifestyle.

In this context, Joanes Rocha explores the concept of the ‘site of memory’, with a comparative case study of the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Amakusa, and their nomination for the World Heritage List. Although the study focuses on Catholic churches, it also considers local communities, their private sites and their significant contribution to the preservation of local history and religious practices and traditions. A comparative analysis allows different social, cultural and religious expressions of an intangible nature to be distinguished as a mechanism to strengthen local identity and to develop sustainable tourism in these historic and religious sites with their specific memorial aspects.

The fourth and final part of the book brings together architects and historians with perspectives on heritage sites in Morocco, Chile, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research in these chapters reveals the challenges faced when preserving cultural heritage within specific historical, environmental and political contexts.

Urban heritage, with its tangible and intangible components, is of vital importance for present and future generations as a source of social cohesion, cultural diversity, collective memory and identities. With this in mind, Assia Lamzah analyses the dualities between Orientalism and Occidentalism and their consequences for heritage in postcolonial Morocco. She questions the dichotomies long used in architecture and urban planning, such as traditional versus modern or oriental versus occidental, and discusses the ways they have been developed and normalised. This is done through a case study of Jemaa el-Fna Plaza in the Marrakesh medina, where precolonial conceptions and spatial construction have been continuously renewed to create a contemporary heritage site that corresponds to the needs of the local population and adapts to a dynamic Moroccan society.

Moreover, Fabiola Solari Irribarra and Guillermo Rojas Alfaro consider the vulnerability of urban and industrial constructions and their deterioration in arid climates. They question the authenticity of Humberstone and Santa Laura Salpeter Works in Chile according to the original fabrics and structures of this industrial heritage, the integrity of which has been harmed by the natural environment over time. In the last decade, several security measures and consolidation and stabilisation works were undertaken to conserve the tangible assets of this site. While conservation works partially compromised the original fabric and material aspects of the site, this change can be viewed as positive because the material decay of these mining complexes coexisted with efforts to keep them standing. In this way, these buildings and the choices made in conserving them bear witness to the key historical, industrial, and social processes associated with the heritage site.

Nowadays, heritage management and discourse are subject to contemporary challenges involving different actors, and the specific relationships of local populations and tourists to these heritage sites. For the local authorities as well as for researchers, these sites are important parts of national, historical and cultural heritage.

In this context, Aliye Fatma Mataracı analyses the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo and discusses the major challenges of preserving tangible and intangible heritage in war and post-war periods. She raises the difficulties of safeguarding and renovating the museum as a built heritage asset on the one hand, and of protecting and maintaining its collections as cultural heritage on the other. Particular attention is also given to the term ‘national’ and its usage in the English title of the museum, in reference to the former Austro-Hungarian and local appellations of the museum. This heritage site has been exposed to different political, social, economic and religious contexts. However, it promotes the expression and representation of the cultural heritage of people from Bosnia and Herzegovina and offers an alternative for the preservation and maintenance of the country’s ethno-religious identities and cultures.

The publication process for this book has proven to be challenging, as it was necessarily carried out via emails during the COVID-19 pandemic, while contributors were in different countries and time zones. However, in overcoming these obstacles and seeing the publication through to its completion, I found my mind opened to other ways of thinking about tangible and intangible heritage, the significance of its theories and practices, and the ways cultures of heritage can be developed and fostered. I hope that this book will have a similar impact on the readership of Open Book Publishers.

1 Lilia Makhloufi, ‘Globalization Facing Identity: A Human Housıng at Stake—Case of Bab Ezzouar in Algiers’, in Proceeding Book of ICONARCH II, International Congress of Architecture, Innovative Approaches in Architecture and Planning (Konya: Selçuk University Faculty of Architecture, 2014), pp. 133–144 (p. 142).

2 Lilia Makhloufi, ‘Inhabitants/Authorities: A Sustainable Housing at Stake—Case of Ali Mendjeli New Town in Constantine’, in Sustainable Architecture & Urban Development, SAUD 2010, vol. 1, ed. by S. Lehmann, H. Al Waer & J. Al-Qawasmi (Amman: The Center for the Study of Architecture in the Arab Region & University of Dundee, 2010), pp. 367–383 (p. 372).

I. BUILT HERITAGE AND RESIDENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. Socio-Spatial Practices of a Community Living Beneath the Land in Beni Zelten, South-Eastern Tunisia

Houda Driss

©2024 Houda Driss, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0388.01

Introduction

Architectural heritage is characterised by its physical and material features, which attract interest in the study of the intrinsic properties of the built framework. The study of space from a similar point of view allows us to understand the logic of its insertion in the urban context, to identify its geometrical characteristics and to define its materials and construction techniques. However, studying architectural heritage solely in terms of its physical materiality removes it from its content and meanings. The function of inhabited space is not limited to sheltering the human body and protecting it from external agents, but rather, over time, it acquires another abstract and immaterial dimension.

This chapter focuses on the study of socio-spatial practices in vertical troglodytic dwellings located in the village of Beni Zelten in south-eastern Tunisia, which constitute an important part of the region’s intangible heritage. According to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), ‘Social practices, rituals and festive events are habitual activities that structure the lives of communities and groups and that are shared by and relevant to many of their members.1 In this chapter, the author will identify and explore the spaces in which these practices, rituals and events took place and their significance to the community.

The first part of this study identifies the spaces belonging to these dwellings and the relationships that exist between the different spaces, using the methodologies of literature review, in situ observation (particularly the architectural survey technique) and other investigative methods. The second part consists of enumerating and analysing the activities practised in the studied dwellings through a historical and investigative approach which relies on direct interviews with several elderly individuals (women and men) native to and resident in the region. In the course of these interviews, the interviewees discussed the socio-spatial domestic practices of their ancestors. The collected data was then processed and classified according to the interlocutor’s gender, degree of privacy and the frequency of specific activities (daily or occasional).

Spatial organisation of vertical troglodytic dwellings

The village of Beni Zelten is located in the Governorate of Gabès in south-east Tunisia. It was inhabited by Arabised Berbers who led a semi-nomadic lifestyle and were active in the agro-pastoral and artisanal sectors. Troglodytic architecture, which is characteristic of the architecture in the village, refers to habitable spaces that are dug out of geological formations. Trebbi and Bertholon add that it is ‘an architecture in negative˝, dug in a mass, which favours the interior space obtained by subtraction of material.2 They can be considered subterranean dwellings, which Golany defines as ‘Structures located deep within the ground. The depth may vary. The soil cover functions not only as an insulator but also and primarily as a heat retainer. The subterranean system is usually found in a hot/dry climate’.3

The vertical troglodytic dwellings are occupied by extended families consisting of a father, mother and married male descendants. In this conservative and patriarchal society, the members of an extended family share the agricultural harvest and the available resources, under the predominant authority of the father. The houses are imperceptible at first glance. Only the patios, large circular or square holes dug at the top of the small hills, testify to the presence of an underground human settlement.

The dwellings are accessible through an entrance vestibule, which preserves the privacy of the inhabitants by shielding them from public view. Located on both sides of the access corridor (also underground) are barn(s) and storage area(s) for agricultural equipment. The vestibule leads to the patio, usually on the west side.

The open-air patio is the only source of air and light in the home. Its dimensions vary between six to ten metres in depth and five to ten metres in width. The depth of this central courtyard depends on the number of floors in the house. If the house has one or more granaries on the first floor, then greater depth is needed. The uncovered patio is sufficiently lit and airy, just as it would be in a dwelling built above ground. This patio is the site of various daily and occasional activities, especially those conducted by women, such as preparing meals, grinding grains, drying fruits and vegetables and laundry, etc. This central courtyard also allows passage between the different spaces—namely, the bedrooms, kitchen(s) and granary/-ies.

The houses have several rooms and no windows. They range from three to four metres wide and two to two-and-a-half metres high, and they have varying depths of four to eight metres. The roofs of these underground spaces are never flat. Rather, they take the form of a raised arch, a parabolic vault or a triangular shape. These are rigid structures. This configuration allows the distribution and transmission of load without the risk of collapse.

The rooms have multiple uses. The area closest to the door can house a loom and be furnished as a living room and a sleeping area for children. However, the deepest, most intimate space is reserved for the couple. The back wall of some rooms has a small excavation that serves as an ablution space, often containing a shower. It is used exclusively to wash the body and never as a toilet. As André Louis observes, ‘It should be noted that the troglodyte house does not have toilet facilities.4 Toilets, considered impure, are not integrated into the dwelling. Instead, according to oral tradition, men go away from homes to perform these natural functions in the wild, whereas women make use of small, discreet excavations that are arranged outside the dwelling.

The cooking space may be a shallow excavation located on one of the walls of the patio. Alternatively, it can be a space bounded by a wall occupying a corner of the courtyard and covered by some tree branches. In the same dwelling, one can find up to four cooking spaces if the family inhabiting it is very large. The cooking spaces can be located to the right or left of the entrance vestibule opening on the patio and can occupy any position between two rooms.

The granary is a space used for storing olives. It opens onto the central courtyard, but it is raised a half or whole level above the patio floor. From the inside, it is accessible by carved notches or pieces of olive wood embedded in the wall, which function as a staircase. The granary occupies an elevated position compared with the other spaces that open onto the central courtyard, for two reasons. The first is to protect the contents of this space from thieves by making access difficult. The second relates to the symbolism of this space, which reflects the esteem and wealth of a family. The roof is equipped with a pipe that allows olives to be transferred into the granary from the outside without crossing the courtyard. According to Libaud, to fill the granary, ‘the owner will only have to drive his camel on the hill (which is now the roof of the house) to the pipe and unload the olives directly from the outside.5

As the description above makes clear, vertical cave dwellings are not directly accessible. The organisation of the housing layout is not arbitrary; rather, the nature of spaces and the relationships between them are dictated by well-defined social laws and cultural codes. As Pierre Robert Baduel explains,

To produce a habitat, is first of all to develop societal relations, to organize proximities and distances, to draw boundaries between an inside and an outside. [… The] inhabited space is therefore oriented, and oriented specifically according to the reference culture.

6

Privacy is only one such cultural concern that informs the layout of the troglodytic structures. The studied houses have two sets of spaces. The first contains the rooms, cooking spaces and granaries. The second consists of the service spaces (vestibule, barns and agricultural equipment depots), which are relatively far from the living spaces. This arrangement is a matter of health and hygiene, as it distances occupants from their animals. All the components of the house are part of the same enclosed perimeter because of the lack of security and the conflicts that have prevailed in this territory. As Eleb and Chatelet note, ‘the division of the ground, as well as the distribution of the rooms of the dwelling qualify both the lifestyle […] and the relationships between people.7

Socio-spatial practices in vertical troglodytic dwellings

Record of activities in vertical troglodytic dwellings

To understand the socio-spatial practices in vertical troglodytic dwellings, first we must collect information about how the local population used the different domestic spaces. The second task is to process the collected data to understand the different scenes of life in these underground spaces, by referencing the existing literature on the one hand and utilising investigative methodology on the other. Based on the inhabitants’ speech, this study identified thirty-six domestic activities.

The activities are classified according to the gender of the user and the activities’ periodicity. Female activities are performed only by women, whereas male activities are performed only by men. Family activities are carried out by all family members (women and men). The second classification shows that daily activities are performed frequently throughout the year. While occasional activities take place in an irregular and seasonal manner, they have a religious, para-religious and ceremonial nature. Table 1.1 allows for the comparison of the data of the two established classifications.

Table 1.1 shows occasional activities, including those carried out by women, men and the entire family. For example, on the day of Eid al-Adha, men slaughter sheep and women clean and grill offal as they prepare couscous with lamb meat. Then, the whole family partakes in the meal.

Table 1.1 Classification of activities according to type and frequency.

ACTIVITY TYPES

Female

Male

Family

periodicity of activities

Daily activities

Toileting, Tidying house, Preparing food, Making bread, Washing dishes, Putting away dishes, Washing laundry, Drying laundry, Grinding grains, Carding and spinning wool, Weaving wool, Receiving family, Milking sheep and goats, Processing milk

Maintaining farm equipment, Tidying farm equipment

Sheltering cattle, Working alfa

Sleeping, Showering, Taking Meals

Occasional activities

Drying figs, Storing dried figs, Shearing wool, Ritual ofMuharram, Ritual ofAshura, Ritual of Mawlid, Ritual ofEid al- Fitr, Ritual of Eid al-Adha, Ritual of birth, Preparations for weddings, Ritual of circumcision, Ritual for funerals

Storing cereals (wheat, barley, etc.), Storing olives, Storing olive oil, Ritual of Eid al-Adha, Preparations for weddings, Ritual for funerals

Ritual ofMuharram, Ritual ofAshura, Ritual of Mawlid, Ritual ofEid al- Fitr, Ritual of Eid al-Adha, Preparations for weddings, Ritual of circumcision, Ritual for funerals

The different activities can be further classified according to the degree of privacy of the space. The study first distinguishes private activities performed by a small family (a couple and their children) within a room. It then identifies semi-private activities carried out by members of the extended family (all occupants of the dwelling: grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.). Finally, it indicates the common activities carried out publicly, in the presence of guests and neighbours. This classification is presented in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2 Classification of activities according to the degree of privacy (private, semi-private, common).

Private activities

Semi-private activities

Common activities

Sleeping, Toileting, Showering, Ritual of birth

Tidying house, Preparing food, Taking meals, Making bread, Washing dishes, Putting away dishes, Washing laundry, Drying laundry, Grinding grains, Storing dried figs, Carding and spinning wool, Weaving wool, Milking sheep and goats, Processing milk, Ritual ofMuharram, Ritual ofAshura, Ritual of Mawlid, Ritual ofEid al- Fitr, Ritual of Eid al-Adha

Storing cereals (wheat, barley, etc.), Drying figs, Storing olives, Storing olive oil, Maintaining farm equipment, Tidying farm equipment, Shearing wool, Receiving family, Sheltering cattle, Working alfa, Preparations for weddings, Ritual of circumcision, Ritual for funerals

Identifying activities in spaces

The obtained data on activity types (female, male and family), degree of privacy (private, semi-private and common), periodicity (daily or occasional) and the different spaces contribute to a better understanding of socio-spatial practices in studied homes.

Table 1.3 Identification of activities in spaces.

In Table 1.3, each line represents an activity. The columns indicate the different spaces in the dwelling. The observed activity is marked by a circle in the corresponding box. The three circle colours correspond to the following significations:

Red: female activities

Blue: male activities

Green: family activities

To indicate the periodicity of the activity, the boxes relating to daily activities are shaded in light grey and the occasional activities are shown in salmon colour. The degree of privacy is expressed by the boxes with dashed lines for private activities, fine lines for semi-private activities and bold lines for common activities.

Classification of spaces by number of activities

Based upon the information in the preceding tables, Figure 1 shows the percentage of the use of each space in vertical troglodytic dwellings.

This graph shows that the patio has the highest number of activities at 30%. Rooms and cooking spaces occupy the second rank, with a percentage close to 20% each. The other spaces are sparsely used and have rates below 6%.

Fig. 1.1 Percentage of use of each space in vertical troglodytic dwellings (V: Vestibule, P: Patio, A: Barn, S: Equipment storage, C: Cooking space, G: Granary, Ch: Room, Chh: Guest room, Ab: Ablution space/Shower, T: Terrace). Author’s graph, CC BY-NC-ND.

Spatial characteristics according to female, male and family practices

The digital data from Table 1.3 have been converted into graphs to better differentiate the type of user of the space (female, male and family). The kitchen contains 100% female activities (meal preparation, cooking), and men do not use this part of the house. The cooking space is the only space exclusively for female use. The storage space for agricultural equipment and the guest room (if it exists) is comprised of 100% male activities. The women do not engage in any activity in these two spaces that open onto the vestibule.

The ablution area houses 100% family activities. The family members (women and men) use the space to wash their bodies equally and without segregation. The barn includes 50% female activities and 50% male activities. Female and male activities take place in the same space but at different times of the day.

Fig. 1.2 Spatial characteristics according to female/male/family activity types. Author’s graphs, CC BY-NC-ND.

The vestibule represents mostly female activities, with a percentage of 75%, whereas male activities account for only 25% of the activities. No family activity occurs in this space of transition between the interior and the exterior of the home. The granary houses only 25% female activities and 75% male activities. The graph shows no family activity in the storage space. In all rooms except the cooking space, guest room, granaries and terrace, 44% female activities and 56% family activities occur, but there are no exclusively male activities that take place there. The patio involves exclusively female activities, family activities and exclusively male activities. In this area, female and family activities are carried out at the same rate, each representing 43% of the activities. However, the rate for male activities is much lower, at 14%.

Spatial characteristics according to the degree of privacy (private, semi-private or common)

Figure 3 shows that the storage space for agricultural equipment, the guest room and the terrace allow common activities to be practised in front of different members of the extended family as well as people from outside the family. These spaces contain 100% common activities. The ablution space is used individually; it contains an intimate activity that is 100% private. The vestibule houses activities belonging to all three levels of privacy. Private activities and semi-private activities are equal in this area, at 25% each. The percentage of common activities is higher, at 50%.

The rooms, such as the vestibule, contain activities belonging to the three levels of privacy; however, the rates for practising each level are different. The activities are mostly semi-private, with a rate of 69%. Private activities have the lowest rate (12%), and the rate for common activities is 19%. The barn does not involve any private activity. Half the barn activities are semi-private (50%), and the other half are reserved for common activities. The patio houses 71% semi-private activities and only 29% common activities; no private activities are practised in this space.

Activities in the kitchen are mostly semi-private, with a rate of 79%. Only 21% of the activities are common, and no private ones are performed in this space. Seventy-five per cent of the activities in the granary are common, 25% are semi-private and no private activity takes place in this storage space.

Fig. 1.3 Spatial characteristics according to the degree of privacy (private, semi-private and common). Author’s graphs, CC BY-NC-ND.

Characteristics of socio-spatial practices in vertical troglodytic dwellings

According to Letesson, socio-spatial analysis reveals ‘the intrinsic relationships between the social and the architectural aspects, between a human group and its built space’.8 This study allows the detection of certain principles that govern the socio-cultural life of the inhabitants of Beni Zelten and that are inscribed in the architectural object by well-defined spatial organisation.

The entrance hall is a transitional space between the interior, the domain of the family’s private life, and the exterior, the domain of the community’s collective life. It is a common space for all users of the dwelling, but it is forbidden to those who do not reside in the dwelling, except with the inhabitants’ permission. Depending on the time of day, the degree of privacy of this space may change. It preserves the intimacy of the home and especially the privacy of women. The vestibule is in direct connection with the patio, the stable, the storage space for agricultural equipment, and, in some rare cases, the guest room.

On either side of the vestibule, we find excavations that are used to shelter domesticated animals and agricultural tools. These service spaces, located close to the entrance of the house, are far from the human spaces. The storage space and the barn are considered less ‘noble’ and less clean than the rest of the spaces, but they are essential to maintain the inhabitants’ way of life. These service spaces house mostly common male activities. In some houses, the vestibule has a guest room, which is never arranged around the central courtyard of the dwelling. The guest room is intended to accommodate outside visitors who visit the family for wedding ceremonies or mourning. It is accessible through the vestibule to avoid interfering with the intimacy of the women of the house.

The patio houses activities mainly of a female and family nature, which are mostly semi-private. This space, which is especially utilised by women, is used for meeting family members, weaving, washing and drying laundry, grinding grain, taking meals and so on. However, the men occupy this space to repair the agricultural equipment, to work the alfa, for gatherings and other such activities. The rooms are multipurpose spaces where essentially private activities are carried out, especially by women. The kitchens are exclusively for female use and essentially qualified as semi-private. Most of the studied houses have one or more granaries. These spaces are used for the storage of the food supply (cereals, olives, dried figs, etc.), which can be rare and very valuable, especially during difficult years, when irregular rainfall impedes agricultural production in the area. These granaries, with their difficult access, are rarely used and represent areas for men to practice common activities.

The spatial practices in the studied houses are the result of the interaction between the natural context, represented by the available resources, and the particular socio-economic context. This interaction gave birth to an intangible heritage housed in a tangible heritage that is now abandoned. Since the 1950s and 1960s, the inhabitants of the village have occupied new forms of built housing where the old socio-spatial practices have mixed with new ones. These are dictated by the change in the sectors of activity of the population and by the adoption of new standards of modern life.

Conclusion

This study showed that in the troglodytic houses in Beni Zelten, South-Eastern Tunisia, the dwelling is the women’s domain par excellence. There is a gendered spatial distribution that has also been found to manifest in several other societies. Men occupy the house during moments of rest or to carry out complementary activities to their agropastoral occupations on agricultural lands. Thus, the dwelling ensures the security and preserves the intimacy of the family and the privacy of women. As Zaied confirms, ‘the idea of honour is linked to three entities: The tribe, the family and the woman. […] This control is even more severe with regard to women. […] She is even one of the symbols of honour’.9 The village of Beni Zelten, like all Jbelia villages, has long suffered from insecurity and political conflicts between tribes. The houses were an adapted response to these situations that would allow inhabitants to contend with invaders and looters. The houses are underground dwellings that are difficult for enemies to spot. Access is provided through a transitional space (vestibule) and is never direct. Finally, the food supply is stored in granaries that are difficult to access.

The south-eastern region of Tunisia is strongly affected by the phenomenon of migration. Nasr speaks about ‘a very ancient Dynamic for more than four centuries (organized emigration)’.10 These migratory movements intensified around the middle of the twentieth century in the aftermath of World War II. Young people of working age then left their native regions for big cities in Tunisia or abroad in search of better paying jobs and better living conditions. The dwellings in the troglodytic villages were subsequently abandoned. They have been replaced by built houses that are better adapted to the standards of modern life, characterised by the standardisation of daily activities and current needs. Troglodytic dwellings as tangible heritage fell into ruin and gradually deteriorated over time.

What should we say about socio-spatial practices, considered to be intangible heritage, that fall completely into oblivion? According to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage ‘Social practices, rituals and festive events are strongly affected by the changes communities undergo in modern societies. […] Processes such as migration, individualisation, the general introduction of formal education […] have a particularly marked effect on these practices.11 Thus, this study represents an opportunity to reveal socio-spatial practices in troglodytic dwellings in the village of Beni Zelten as intangible heritage. It could be extended to other villages in the same region or to other regions. This troglodyte heritage reflects the identity of the region. It is time for politicians, heritage authorities and architects to take action to protect these sites and proceed with their registration as cultural heritage before it is too late.

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Nasr, Noureddine, ‘Agriculture et émigration dans les stratégies productives des jbalia du Sud-Est tunisien’, in Environnement et sociétés rurales en mutation: Approches alternatives, ed. by Michel Picouet, Mongi Sghaier, Didier Genin et al. (Paris: IRD Editions, 2004), pp. 247–57.

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1ICOMOS, Intangible Heritage, Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage / Québec declaration on the preservation of the spirit of place / The ICOMOS charter for the interpretation and presentation of cultural heritage sites with a bibliography based on documents available at the UNESCO-ICOMOS Documentation Centre. August 2011, https://www.icomos.org/centre_documentation/bib/2011_intangible-heritage_complete.pdf

2 Jean Charles Trebbi and Patrick Bertholon, Habiter le paysage (Paris: Alternatives, 2007), p. 7.

3 Gideon Golany, Earth Sheltered Dwellings in