Which human & non-human collectives align in the process of building an adobe structure in an Islamic framework?

Dwelling from clay collecting to unbaked brick-making and building procedures, this paper proposes to test earthen architecture determined networks and technologies within Islamic patterns, remounting the adobe-labin(ah) connection vis-à-vis the human telluric creative standard that both Al-Qur'an and the Sunna refers. Opening the black box of earthen vernacular structures with an actor-network theory propelled approach, one will try to religiously account some building affairs ranging from the referential masjid an-Nabi to present-day 'unorthodox' ethnographic contexts in Muslim geopolitics - namely Al-Gharb Al-Andalus -, so as to compare material culture and moral typologies.

Interested in the cosmological dimensions of the man/nature relationship, I spent an ethnographic fieldwork among the Niominkas; the so-called "people of the sea" in Senegal. The Niominkas inhabit the Gandul archipelago located in the biosphere reserve of the delta of Saloum in the central western part of the country. They are traditionally followers of animistic practices. Even if they are nowadays mostly muslim their traditional practices still remain, showing their profound attachment to the animistic worldview. This situation is particularly noticeable regarding Niominkas interactions with their environment. In this connection, it persists a paradoxal situation in the delta of Saloum in general: while the conditions (Ramsar Convention, Biosphere reserve, commitment of the inhabitants, institutional, technical and financial means) for protecting natural resources from depletion are ready in place, the anthropic pressure upon theses resources still remain a great source of disaster for the ecosystem. Having this in mind, my hypothesis is that it is crucial to understand the cosmological dimensions that shape the interactions between the Niominkas and their environment in order to understand and explain why it persists such a situation in this favorable context. The present paper follow from this and aim to analyze what one can refer to as ontology-switching occurring when the Niominkas interact with their environment. In speaking about ontology-switching I go beyond the code-switching model considering Niominkas interactions with nature as guided by concurrent ontologies yet strictly separated. Those ontologies are mainly naturalism (derived largely form Islam and western cosmologies), and the traditional animism.

Inspired by the notion of “radical imaginary” (Castoriadis), and by the debate on the fetishism of commodities, my ethnographic research in the artisanal diamond mines of Sierra Leone (2007-2011) shows how long-term historical experiences of uncertainty and risk, exploitation and violence have sedimented in the imaginaries and ecological praxis of the miners.

In this paper I argue that the Qur’anic cosmology has become a source of symbols and images for elaborated mineral cosmogonies. According to several miners, diamonds belong to, or are under the control of, invisible beings known as dεbul or jinn. In the south-eastern diamondiferous areas of Sierra Leone, there are miners who turn to these invisible presences to increase their chances to find the precious stones and accumulate an extraordinary wealth in a short period of time.

What I wish to suggest is that the images of the jinn dramatize the distance relationship with ‘absent persons’ who, however distant and unknown they may be, are historically linked to this African region through an extended and centuries-old network of social and economic relations.

This paper argues that a critical analysis of this “magma” of meanings and practices is crucial to understand the distance relationship between gem-producers and gem-consumers. By taking into account the point of view of those who are lying on the fringes of the global commodity chains this paper advocates the value of an approach that goes beyond the ontology of determinacy and call our attention on contingency and social creativity.

On the rooftops of apartments throughout Abdeen, Cairo are lofts that house pigeons. Pigeon aficionados each have a particular type of pigeon that they favor: fancy pigeons for competitions, racing pigeons, or "war" pigeons that attempt to capture one's neighbors' pigeons. The profound love and admiration these men have for their pigeons conveys the depth of this "hobby." There is, however, much more to pigeon flying than to pigeons actually flying. This paper is about what it means to be "ghawi hamaam." While ghawi hamaam could be translated as "pigeon hobbyist," being ghawi hamaam is about expending all of one's time, money, and love on pigeons. It is about the preference of the company of birds and fellow pigeon fanciers: a departure from the pious self, the entrepreneurial self, and the family man. It is a way of living and socializing that revolves around raising, training, and playing games with pigeons in the urban space of Cairo. Based upon ongoing fieldwork, this paper is about the alternative social project of men who live in Abdeen and raise pigeons. How does being ghawi hamaam contribute to an alternative form of sociality? What are the forms of living and being social that an addiction to pigeons fosters? How is raising pigeons part of a lifeworld that refuses to participate in the demand of being modern male subjects? And, how are these men exercising power and performing masculinities when they train their pigeon soldiers to win the imaginary wars that they fight.

This communication suggests a reflection on the relations between humans and non-humans in a small Moroccan mountain town. The originality of Chefchaouen lies in the approach to urban and rural systems in the city's identity and daily life. The relations between human and nonhumans include animals, breed or not, spirits, jnun-s, Shaytan, God, the evil eye, angels, children and adults. The analysis of ethnographic data proves that an analogical ontology (characterization of beings and things according to the space in which they are located) with one-off animist elements is significant. This ontological scheme (defined as a cosmological form and a system of attributes and interactions of beings) is comparable to the scheme found in the surrounding jbala rural area (Gonzalez-Vazquez, 2010) and the South of Morocco (Simenel, 2012). Nevertheless, the city presents heterogeneity and diversity. Through the ethnography of individual modes of existence and in situation characterization of beings it's possible to assert that a plurality of trends of perceptions and interactions with nonhumans happen. Using a comparison of singular and individual discourses and practices the hypothesis of the existence of two trends, "ruralisante" and "urbanisante", can be made. This leads to the questioning of cultural learning processes, individual life trajectories and ways of familiarization with the environment. For instance, in the case of literate and scholar urban, a rural-origin migrant or a goat breeder. Furthermore, it appears that children are a specific class of beings whose interactions with non-humans happen to be very distinctive from the ones adults have.