Abstract
Oukaïmeden valley is a high-altitude pasture reserve in the Moroccan High Atlas. Two groups of Berber shepherds, the tribes of Rheraya and Ourika, have been accessing the valley several centuries ago. The origins of the collective regulation that rules this summer access are found in religious practices previous to the conversion to Islam. This article focuses on the co-existence in the valley between tradition and modernity after the arrival of the tourism to Oukaïmeden, and the changes that modernity produce in Berber shepherds’ perception of their tradition. In order to do this, rites, traditions and use rights on pastures are described in relation to the results of an etnoarchaeological enquiry performed among modern Berber shepherds that reflects information about grazing and the agdal system as well as the view that they have about rock art, tumuli and other prehistoric remains scattered on the Oukaïmeden landscape. The main conclusion points out a kind of balance between tradition and modernity in the valley, in spite of the progressive decline of traditions and ways of living.
Highlights
Oukaïmeden Valley is a slightly sloped flatland, a natural environment located in the Moroccan High Atlas
In order to do this, rites, traditions and use rights on pastures are described in relation to the results of an etnoarchaeological enquiry performed among modern Berber shepherds that reflects information about grazing and the agdal system as well as the view that they have about rock art, tumuli and other prehistoric remains scattered on the Oukaïmeden landscape
As mentioned in the introduction, the main goal of this paper is to establish a relationship between tradition and modernity in the Oukaïmeden Valley by comparing its historical evolution -its use as an agdal- with the current situation from an ethnoarchaeological point of view
Summary
Oukaïmeden Valley is a slightly sloped flatland, a natural environment located in the Moroccan High Atlas. This premise allows us to use the study of material culture and the organizational traditions still present among Berber shepherds to increase our knowledge about Prehistory which, in turn, can be used to reinterpret the meaning of the archaeological remains of the valley, especially the petroglyphs This is why we conducted the study of one of the azibs of Oukaïmeden. The Oukaïmeden high mountain agdal has suffered perhaps the most intense colonization by Western culture It is the only agdal where a paved road crosses the valley and the only one where traditional Berber shepherding coexists with the users of fully equipped ski resorts built in the mid-twentieth century (ski lifts, hotels, chalets and other touristic resorts). Despite the chapter devoted to analyzing the knowledge about traditions displayed by several anthropologists and the varying results of the inquiry conducted among current Berber shepherds, This paper is little more than the in situ ratification of the urgent need to document a way of understanding and acting within a landscape, which is fading away as modernity turns traditions into past
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