Mapping the Human Landscape

The HRAF section of Africamap contains several layers which relate to larger issues of landscape in Tunisia.  One such layer is the layer which depicts the regions of subsistence economy.

The purple denotes areas where pastoral subsistence is practiced, while the blue areas show areas of intensive agriculture.  Climate and land types play a central role in this, but cultural factors also play an important roles. While this particular map layer is dated 1959, the general areas of coverage remain pertinent.  The northern regions experience a much more temperate, Mediterranean climate.  As a result this region has been extensively cultivated since antiquity.  New agricultural technology has extended this region of cultivation further south and eastward, but this has also created issues.  Traditionally nomadic and pastoral ethnic groups such as the Mrazig and other Berber groups have experienced encroachment on lands which support their livelihoods.  While many choose to adopt the new occupations which this land development brings, others are left with fewer and fewer resources to pursue their traditional ways of life.

Olive Groves experiencing desertification (Image courtesy http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu)

Another issue confronting Tunisia is drought.  While it is not as severe as in some other parts of Africa, drought has still had a negative impact on Tunisian landscape.   Agricultural land has expanded significantly over the past 50 years, but in some areas this expansion was undertaken without sufficient consideration given to existing climate or soil conditions.  Furthermore the addition of so many competing agricultural enterprises dramatically increased the demand for water.  This has made agriculture an increasingly expensive (both economically and ecologically) operation.  In some cases, especially in the more ecologically unsuitable regions, this has lead to desertification and forced the abandonment of agricultural projects.

Landscape Challenges

Smog over Tunis (www.yasour.com)

Tunisia faces several challenges with regards to landscape.  On the environmental level Tunisia faces many of the issues which often come with prolonged human habitation and expansion.  These include:

• Deforestation
• Soil depletion
• Water pollution
• Air pollution
• Hazardous waste 

While nearly all countries struggle with these things to some extent, the extremely long history of human habitation has compounded some of these issues.  George E. Brooks in his article  "A Provisional Historical Schema for Western Africa Based on Seven Climate Periods" tracks this extensive process which dates back several millennia.  This continued human habitation is a major factor in the shrinking biodiversity.  Farming and livestock grazing has both depleted the soil and contributed to desertification by decreasing soil stability.  Furthermore humans now occupy and use almost all of the land with access to water.  As Tunisia is partly in  the Sahara desert and has a generally arid climate, this limits the possible ecosystems for animal or native plant life.

Water use is also an issue because of the growing problem of water pollution.  Sewage infrastructure in Tunisia is not very developed.  Outside the major cities, many communities still have open air sewage systems which flow unfiltered into local bodies of water.  In addition, hazardous waste from industries such as mining and petroleum are often dumped untreated.  These either end up in the waterways or leech into the groundwater.  Farmers often need to use this groundwater for irrigation, which provides a further challenge in terms of competing economic sectors and water use.  Jim Ellis and Kathleen A. Galvin in their article“Climate Patterns and Land-Use Practices in the Dry Zones of Africa” discuss the issues which farmers face in arid climates with limited resources and point out how local conflicts can be intensified when water becomes an issue.

Polluted beach outside Sfax (www.yasour.com)

Marking the Landscape - The Mosque of Uqba

(Image courtesy sacredsites.com)

The Mosque of Uqba, also know as the Great Mosque of Kairouan is a very old and important mosque located in the city of Kairouan.  It is a large and slightly irregular quadrilateral covering a total area of 9,000 sq. meters in the north-eastern region of the city.  It is more than 1,300 years old and was at one time a major center of thought for the entire Islamic world.  The past has been marked on it in numerous ways, from the development of the mosque itself, to the development of the surrounding city, to the cultural heritage that is the culmination of centuries of historical existence.  The mosque has been destroyed, rebuilt, remodeled and expanded many times, and these past events are manifested in the current physical design and in the way in which the mosque interacts with the surrounding city.  Examining this past can provide insight as to the activities and priorities of local peoples regarding landscape, but can also raise questions about contemporary cultural practices and historical narrative.

Brief Timeline:

670 AD - Mosque built by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi, who also founded the city of Kairouan
690 - Mosque destroyed during occupation of Berbers
703 - Rebuilt by Ghassanid general Hasan ibn al-Nu'man.  Expanded 724-728
836 - Ziadet Allah I reconstructs the mosque
862-863 - Oratory enlarged, added portico and double galleries along the sides
1025 - Restoration during the reign of the Zirids.
1294 - Major restorative work by Hasfids
1967 - Major restoration work conducted by Tunisian government, reopened in 1972

Dougga

Dougga, located in Tunisia, is the site of a very well preserved Roman city.  It covers many acres and features several very-well preserved monuments and temples.  It lies in the country-side, which protected it from much of the looting and then re-development that many other ancient Roman sites have experienced (such as the much larger Tunisian site at Carthage.)  It is a popular tourist site, if somewhat remote, and receives around 50,000 visitors per year. 

It is built on a slope as is customary for many ancient Roman sites, in an area that has been used for agricultural purposed for several thousand years.  A particularly interesting feature called the "Fossa Regia" runs to the east and south.  Following the Punic Wars, the Romans used this as the boundary of their dominion.  This has lead many historians to consider Dougga a point of Roman-Berber contact, which is corroborated by some of the textiles and pottery found.

Some issues which the landscape bring up are that of historical ownership and land use.  Many of the mosaics, sculptures and friezes have been moved to various museums since its early excavation.  Tunisia was at the time a part of the French Protectorate and some of these treasures were taken to the national museums in France.  Many of these have been returned to the Tunisian government and now reside mainly in a museum in Tunis.  Some, however, still remain in the private collections of museum patrons or in other European museums to which they were traded.  

In addition to issues of historical ownership, the last inhabitants were evicted in 1991 when it was designated a protected archaeological site. Further evictions may be possible for the olive farmers depending on the extent to which the site grows and is developed in an archeological capacity.

Book Comparisons

Anne Whiston Spirn's book The Language of Landscape examines human interaction with landscape while looking at this interaction more specifically as a dialogue.  She argues that while we often think of our interaction with a landscape from more of a survey perspective, we are actually engaging in something close resembling a conversation.  There is a specific language of landscape which incorporates its own rules, references and metaphors which we can engage with in a meaningful way.  Just because we can engage in this dialogue, however, does not mean that we necessarily do.  Sprin states, "Blindness transcends the eyes.  Culture can prevent eyes from seeing and ears from hearing.  those who see nature and city as opposites or deserts and forests as disordered are blind to the natural processes in ctities and order in wilderness" (36).  She maintains that we are often too caught up in certain socio-cultural elements which can make us ignore the full range of language which a landscape uses.  A main point in the latter part of her book is to illustrate the danger of not engaging in these multiple levels of meaning, and instead approaching landscape without being open to what it can tell you.  This can lead to severe mismanagement which becomes detrimental not only to the landscape but also to human interests.  Examples include poor selection of grazing lands, the introduction of invasive species in an attempt to control certain animal/plant populations, and building in areas with soft soil or frequent tectonic activity.  

Desertification risk in Africa ( http://soils.usda.gov/use)

Another cogent point raised in The Language of Landscape is the difference in human perspective when it comes to landscape.  Depending on a persons cultural, historical, or professional background, a landscape can be viewed and communicated with in many ways.  A farmer sees a landscape one way, while a tourist might see it in a completely different way.  Many different needs and perspectives are present within even small populations, and these need to be in communication with each other.  She points out, "... there is always a tension in landscape between the human impulse to wonder at the wild and the compulsion to use, manage, and control.  And every nation has its 'native' nature,worked by physical and mental labor into landscapes, with which its people identify." (31)  

Protesters in South Africa over industrial takeover of their land (http://sfbayview.com/)

The other book I examined was Jennifer Beningfield's The Frightened Land: Land, Landscape and Politics in South Africa in the Twentieth Century.  In this book she looks at the way in which politics, land, and landscape have interacted in South Africa.  She explores how South Africans have experienced landscape throughout the twentieth century, and how these experiences have thus informed their culture, background and politics, and how these perceptions in turn change the landscape.  This notion is very closely related to Spirn's idea of the dialogue between landscape and inhabitants; how the two are interlocked in a cycle of projection which reinforces meaning.  This also shows how Spirn's recommendation of a more holistic view of the landscape can be implemented through taking a variety of approaches to it.  Beningfield also makes the point that "Landscape remains fertile ground for the debates about ownership, identity, culture, and politics in South Africa, and can help us to retain memory, conflict, and ambiguity." (2)  Landscape has thus been altered and stretched over time to fit people's various needs for community connection.  Although the book is focused on South Africa specifically, many of Beningfield's points about landscape resonate on a greater scale.  Her call for a more multi-faceted understanding of landscape echo Spirn.

Posting 3: Sensory Issues in Landscape

Africamap has a variety of features which help to alleviate sensory issues.  Looking at a map is never going to be the same as actually being in a place and directly experiencing the landscape, but Africamap has some tools which can provide a great deal of sensory data to the user.  The various layers allow the user to examine the landscape in many different ways.  The political topography can be examined along with the actual topography by combining these layers.  The ability to change the transparency of these different layers is enormously helpful, as it allows for combining these different data types.  

For this picture I overlaid the default hybrid map with a map of soil compositions.  Soil type can convey a great array of different information.  Its a major factor in how the land is used, which is a large determinate of the sensory experience in such a place.  Another helpful feature for this is the "Places" function, which allows the user to see the location of a great variety of different types of buildings, parks, rivers and other physical feature.  While it is shown as a simply red triangle, it is still useful insofar as it can really help locate the user in relation to whatever they want.  For this picture I chose to look at where all of the markets in the city of Sfax are:

A traditional map would just show place names, but with this, I can take what I know of a market (the sights, sounds, smells etc.) and apply it to this location.  While this requires a little imagination, it is still a fascinating and helpful feature of Africamap. 

While all information you can get from Africamap is ultimately visual, the YouTube feed is a way in which more of the senses can be engaged.  They allow you to go beyond looking at the landscape from the customary top down perspective.  By pinning videos to specific locations, they allow for a much richer experience of a specific place.  This video of surfing off the coast of Africa provides a great deal more sensory input then a satellite image ever could.  You can see they landscape in motion, and furthermore the video medium allows for the transmission of sound.  Hearing what a landscape sounds like, or hearing the local music provides the user with a much greater sense of sensory immersion.

Post 2: Tunisia and Historical Landscape

The manner in which a writer approaches landscape can point to many of their more general attitudes and objectives.  Beyond what the language itself tells you, the organization of their descriptions is indicative of the priorities of the writer and the intended audience.  Sometimes the most telling parts are those which the author leaves out.  

I examined a travelogue from 1903 by a Frenchmen named Guy de Maupassant.  He traveled through much of Africa and the Middle East, writing of his exotic journeys in a series of books.  I think its important to note that while the purpose of the reader buying this book would be to learn of far-off exotic locations, it is not written with real anthropological purpose.  It is written to be entertaining and exotic, not necessarily strictly factual.

One of the first things that struck me in his section on Tunisia was the order in which he addresses various features of the landscape.  His very first descriptions of the Tunisian landscape concerns the Romans and Carthaginians.  This fixation by Europeans with ancient Roman history is quite prevalent.  The current inhabitants of the land are of less importance than these ancient civilizations.  The cultural importance of Roman history and civilization to these Europeans plays out in their prioritization of these aspects of landscape over more immediate ones.  This can also be seen in the period's maps.  This is an 1889 map of the northern African coast:

Despite Carthage being an extinct civilization for several millennia they still use it to define the place.  The name is not used by the current inhabitants, nor does it really reflect the contemporary cultural composition, but this is of little import to European map makers.  This relates to professor Fennel's talk in terms of how one approaches the study of Africa.  At this point in time Europeans were still approaching Africa in a way that starts on their own cultural terms.  This is similar to how African American anthropological studies really started in the American south.  

The second topic which the author discusses is the physical landscape of the city of Tunis.  He describes in great detail the surrounding countryside and shape of the city.  While some of his descriptions are more neutral, he makes many references to how the people of Tunis are uncivilized and dirty.  The way in which he frames it gives the reader the impression of a stunning landscape being mired by its backwards inhabitants.

Altogether the travelogue is quite colorful and undoubtedly entertaining to readers at the time, but the blatant racism and cultural insensitivity infused in the text make it difficult for the modern reader to pay much attention to the actual landscape.  The physical/geographical observations are almost lost within the way Maupassant discusses the Tunisians themselves.