International African Institute

L'organisation de l'espace au Maroc by Hubert BeguinReview by: Dale F. EickelmanAfrica: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 47, No. 1 (1977), pp. 120-121Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1159216 .

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REVIEWS OF BOOKS REVIEWS OF BOOKS

value of the comprehensive approach in showing the complexity of the patterns of inter-

regional movement and the usefulness of birth-place data as a method of measuring migration in Africa. In the third stage of the analysis a spatial interaction model is developed and tested on the Ugandan data. The results generally support the authors' view that such models can be

developed for African countries and provide a useful tool in migration analysis. Apart from

being the first comprehensive spatial analysis of inter-regional migration in an African country, the value of this study, to this reviewer, is in the disciplined and critical way in which the authors apply their theoretical and methodological apparatus to the data at hand. At every stage of the analysis they are fully aware of the deficiencies of both and take care to spell out not only the limits this imposes on their findings, but also the ways in which these can be overcome.

Among the more important suggestions for improving the quality of future research the

following are worth mentioning: collection of time-specific migration data in future censuses; definition of more adequate spatial systems in terms of census administration; recognition of the importance of rural-rural population movement; experimenting with alternative formulations of the spatial interaction model.

This little book is a first-rate contribution to the study of spatial mobility in Africa. It is

hoped that it will encourage more researchers to follow its lead as data become available for other African countries. HENRI G. J. KNOOP

GEOGRAPHY

L'organisation de l'espace au Maroc. By HUBERT BEGUIN. Brussels: Academie Royale des Sciences

d'Outre-Mer, 1974. Pp. 788, bibl., ill., maps. FB. 950.

ONE of the more interesting recent developments in geography is the recognition that there are numerous alternative kinds of space within which human activity can be meaningfully analysed. The interrelations of these various kinds of space has become an increasingly pressing theoretical problem, making for a sort of'structural' geography. In the past, most geographers have been concerned with the 'absolute' space of Euclidean geometry, a space conceived as a 'container of objects' (in Paul Wheatley's phrase) and measured in standard, arbitrarily defined units. Only recently has the complementary notion of relative or contextual space begun to be

investigated: social space, sacred space, economic space and others.

Although his conclusion indicates that he is aware of such different perspectives, Professor

Beguin has produced a conventional, although resolutely thorough and methodologically explicit, macrogeography that'objectively' represents the spatial interrelations ofthe distribution of Morocco's rural and urban population, natural resources and economic activities in the

past and present. The author has assembled an impressive array of statistical documentation and has provided a judicious appraisal of the reliability of his sources. Substantial parts of the

monograph tread over already familiar ground, such as the description of historical shifts between economic orientation towards the sea and towards the interior of the country. Similarly, the section on rural Morocco (comprising 65 % of the population in I97I, down from 70% in I960) does not add substantially to Noin's La Population rurale du Maroc (I970), although Beguin does incisively relate the effect of modern agricultural techniques and

marketing to the use of space. The most original section of the monograph, and also the best

presented graphically, attempts to delineate the contemporary spatial hierarchies that exist

among Moroccan towns and to define their hinterlands. Here some interesting patterns emerge, particularly with reference to the growth of secondary urban centres in the interior and the division of Morocco into geographical regions.

Beguin's conclusions do not do justice to the wealth of complex economic and demographic data that he has painstakingly assembled and analysed. It is hardly surprising to learn that there is a correlation between the distribution of the population and available economic resources, or

value of the comprehensive approach in showing the complexity of the patterns of inter-

regional movement and the usefulness of birth-place data as a method of measuring migration in Africa. In the third stage of the analysis a spatial interaction model is developed and tested on the Ugandan data. The results generally support the authors' view that such models can be

developed for African countries and provide a useful tool in migration analysis. Apart from

being the first comprehensive spatial analysis of inter-regional migration in an African country, the value of this study, to this reviewer, is in the disciplined and critical way in which the authors apply their theoretical and methodological apparatus to the data at hand. At every stage of the analysis they are fully aware of the deficiencies of both and take care to spell out not only the limits this imposes on their findings, but also the ways in which these can be overcome.

Among the more important suggestions for improving the quality of future research the

following are worth mentioning: collection of time-specific migration data in future censuses; definition of more adequate spatial systems in terms of census administration; recognition of the importance of rural-rural population movement; experimenting with alternative formulations of the spatial interaction model.

This little book is a first-rate contribution to the study of spatial mobility in Africa. It is

hoped that it will encourage more researchers to follow its lead as data become available for other African countries. HENRI G. J. KNOOP

GEOGRAPHY

L'organisation de l'espace au Maroc. By HUBERT BEGUIN. Brussels: Academie Royale des Sciences

d'Outre-Mer, 1974. Pp. 788, bibl., ill., maps. FB. 950.

ONE of the more interesting recent developments in geography is the recognition that there are numerous alternative kinds of space within which human activity can be meaningfully analysed. The interrelations of these various kinds of space has become an increasingly pressing theoretical problem, making for a sort of'structural' geography. In the past, most geographers have been concerned with the 'absolute' space of Euclidean geometry, a space conceived as a 'container of objects' (in Paul Wheatley's phrase) and measured in standard, arbitrarily defined units. Only recently has the complementary notion of relative or contextual space begun to be

investigated: social space, sacred space, economic space and others.

Although his conclusion indicates that he is aware of such different perspectives, Professor

Beguin has produced a conventional, although resolutely thorough and methodologically explicit, macrogeography that'objectively' represents the spatial interrelations ofthe distribution of Morocco's rural and urban population, natural resources and economic activities in the

past and present. The author has assembled an impressive array of statistical documentation and has provided a judicious appraisal of the reliability of his sources. Substantial parts of the

monograph tread over already familiar ground, such as the description of historical shifts between economic orientation towards the sea and towards the interior of the country. Similarly, the section on rural Morocco (comprising 65 % of the population in I97I, down from 70% in I960) does not add substantially to Noin's La Population rurale du Maroc (I970), although Beguin does incisively relate the effect of modern agricultural techniques and

marketing to the use of space. The most original section of the monograph, and also the best

presented graphically, attempts to delineate the contemporary spatial hierarchies that exist

among Moroccan towns and to define their hinterlands. Here some interesting patterns emerge, particularly with reference to the growth of secondary urban centres in the interior and the division of Morocco into geographical regions.

Beguin's conclusions do not do justice to the wealth of complex economic and demographic data that he has painstakingly assembled and analysed. It is hardly surprising to learn that there is a correlation between the distribution of the population and available economic resources, or

I20 I20

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REVIEWS OF BOOKS REVIEWS OF BOOKS REVIEWS OF BOOKS

that towns constitute a 'strong point' in Morocco's spatial organization. The author may be correct in asserting that the 'technical considerations' of development weigh more heavily than 'inherited historical spatial structures' in determining the use of space. But the latter

phrase masks, among other things, how Moroccans themselves existentially conceive of the space they occupy. Such 'native' perceptions are more than residual in determining the spatial organization of contemporary Morocco. It is hoped that the author will follow his present monograph with one that explores such a crucial complementary theme.

DALE F. EICKELMAN

African Environment; Problems and Perspectives. Edited by PAUL RICHARDS. (African Environment Special Report i). London: International African Institute, i975. Pp. xii + I 117, bibl., tables, maps. I. 5 o.

PAUL RICHARDS' happiest notion, which he uses as a criterion to select some of the contributors to the first issue of his special report series, is that Western science has introduced inappropriate and unwelcome paradigms in its attempt to understand Africa. The welcome consequence of the rejection of one of these, in which nature and society are divorced, would be that we could no longer use the word 'environment'; it is not a nettle to be grasped, but a bad habit to be abjured. The more holistic, indigenous view of life may well be the better way to attack the problems of the African peasant; we can learn as much from him as he can from the assistant experts foisted on him. Of these collected essays those on game theory, ethnolinguistics and folk ecology follow this theme. The others range from the detailed account of a development scheme in Dahomey through useful and punchy reviews of tsetse and water resources to those which adhere to the amputated view of the environment in discussions of semi-arid areas, climatic change, monitoring and Tanzanian water resources. A. WARREN

Lesjacheres en Afrique tropicale: interpretation technique et fonciere. Par S. JEAN. Paris: Institut d'Ethnologie, 1975. Pp. i68, bibl., carte. F45.8o.

DR. SUZANNE JEAN has brought her wide fieldwork experience and qualifications in both geography and anthropology to this short discussion of African fallowing systems, which, as she demonstrates, is a subject where interdisciplinary competence is the first requirement of analysis. She has produced a book whose conciseness and general clarity should particularly recommend itself to teachers of economic anthropology, where geographical constraints are often ignored in the attempt to familiarise the student rapidly with the large and complex theoretical framework which the economic discipline has created. Apt in an introductory text is Dr. Jean's refusal to abide by any deterministic view of the relation holding between social organization and either the natural environment or any specific aspect of the social organization of natural resources. She quotes with approval, following Pierre Gourou: 'l'idee qu'entre le milieu et les faits giographiques s'interpose le prisme des civilizations'. The problem that such an approach presents is to generalize at all when equal analytic weight is given to each of the elements involved in the complex interaction of man and nature with its countless aspects.

The first and, to my mind, best part of the book is Dr. Jean's clear synopsis of the technological and ecological dimensions of tropical fallowing systems. Her typology of fallowing systems, separating at the outset the aspect of residential movement from that of shifting locus of cultivation allows her to delineate three main types of system: 'culture itinerante'

that towns constitute a 'strong point' in Morocco's spatial organization. The author may be correct in asserting that the 'technical considerations' of development weigh more heavily than 'inherited historical spatial structures' in determining the use of space. But the latter

phrase masks, among other things, how Moroccans themselves existentially conceive of the space they occupy. Such 'native' perceptions are more than residual in determining the spatial organization of contemporary Morocco. It is hoped that the author will follow his present monograph with one that explores such a crucial complementary theme.

DALE F. EICKELMAN

African Environment; Problems and Perspectives. Edited by PAUL RICHARDS. (African Environment Special Report i). London: International African Institute, i975. Pp. xii + I 117, bibl., tables, maps. I. 5 o.

PAUL RICHARDS' happiest notion, which he uses as a criterion to select some of the contributors to the first issue of his special report series, is that Western science has introduced inappropriate and unwelcome paradigms in its attempt to understand Africa. The welcome consequence of the rejection of one of these, in which nature and society are divorced, would be that we could no longer use the word 'environment'; it is not a nettle to be grasped, but a bad habit to be abjured. The more holistic, indigenous view of life may well be the better way to attack the problems of the African peasant; we can learn as much from him as he can from the assistant experts foisted on him. Of these collected essays those on game theory, ethnolinguistics and folk ecology follow this theme. The others range from the detailed account of a development scheme in Dahomey through useful and punchy reviews of tsetse and water resources to those which adhere to the amputated view of the environment in discussions of semi-arid areas, climatic change, monitoring and Tanzanian water resources. A. WARREN

Lesjacheres en Afrique tropicale: interpretation technique et fonciere. Par S. JEAN. Paris: Institut d'Ethnologie, 1975. Pp. i68, bibl., carte. F45.8o.

DR. SUZANNE JEAN has brought her wide fieldwork experience and qualifications in both geography and anthropology to this short discussion of African fallowing systems, which, as she demonstrates, is a subject where interdisciplinary competence is the first requirement of analysis. She has produced a book whose conciseness and general clarity should particularly recommend itself to teachers of economic anthropology, where geographical constraints are often ignored in the attempt to familiarise the student rapidly with the large and complex theoretical framework which the economic discipline has created. Apt in an introductory text is Dr. Jean's refusal to abide by any deterministic view of the relation holding between social organization and either the natural environment or any specific aspect of the social organization of natural resources. She quotes with approval, following Pierre Gourou: 'l'idee qu'entre le milieu et les faits giographiques s'interpose le prisme des civilizations'. The problem that such an approach presents is to generalize at all when equal analytic weight is given to each of the elements involved in the complex interaction of man and nature with its countless aspects.

The first and, to my mind, best part of the book is Dr. Jean's clear synopsis of the technological and ecological dimensions of tropical fallowing systems. Her typology of fallowing systems, separating at the outset the aspect of residential movement from that of shifting locus of cultivation allows her to delineate three main types of system: 'culture itinerante'

that towns constitute a 'strong point' in Morocco's spatial organization. The author may be correct in asserting that the 'technical considerations' of development weigh more heavily than 'inherited historical spatial structures' in determining the use of space. But the latter

phrase masks, among other things, how Moroccans themselves existentially conceive of the space they occupy. Such 'native' perceptions are more than residual in determining the spatial organization of contemporary Morocco. It is hoped that the author will follow his present monograph with one that explores such a crucial complementary theme.

DALE F. EICKELMAN

African Environment; Problems and Perspectives. Edited by PAUL RICHARDS. (African Environment Special Report i). London: International African Institute, i975. Pp. xii + I 117, bibl., tables, maps. I. 5 o.

PAUL RICHARDS' happiest notion, which he uses as a criterion to select some of the contributors to the first issue of his special report series, is that Western science has introduced inappropriate and unwelcome paradigms in its attempt to understand Africa. The welcome consequence of the rejection of one of these, in which nature and society are divorced, would be that we could no longer use the word 'environment'; it is not a nettle to be grasped, but a bad habit to be abjured. The more holistic, indigenous view of life may well be the better way to attack the problems of the African peasant; we can learn as much from him as he can from the assistant experts foisted on him. Of these collected essays those on game theory, ethnolinguistics and folk ecology follow this theme. The others range from the detailed account of a development scheme in Dahomey through useful and punchy reviews of tsetse and water resources to those which adhere to the amputated view of the environment in discussions of semi-arid areas, climatic change, monitoring and Tanzanian water resources. A. WARREN

Lesjacheres en Afrique tropicale: interpretation technique et fonciere. Par S. JEAN. Paris: Institut d'Ethnologie, 1975. Pp. i68, bibl., carte. F45.8o.

DR. SUZANNE JEAN has brought her wide fieldwork experience and qualifications in both geography and anthropology to this short discussion of African fallowing systems, which, as she demonstrates, is a subject where interdisciplinary competence is the first requirement of analysis. She has produced a book whose conciseness and general clarity should particularly recommend itself to teachers of economic anthropology, where geographical constraints are often ignored in the attempt to familiarise the student rapidly with the large and complex theoretical framework which the economic discipline has created. Apt in an introductory text is Dr. Jean's refusal to abide by any deterministic view of the relation holding between social organization and either the natural environment or any specific aspect of the social organization of natural resources. She quotes with approval, following Pierre Gourou: 'l'idee qu'entre le milieu et les faits giographiques s'interpose le prisme des civilizations'. The problem that such an approach presents is to generalize at all when equal analytic weight is given to each of the elements involved in the complex interaction of man and nature with its countless aspects.

The first and, to my mind, best part of the book is Dr. Jean's clear synopsis of the technological and ecological dimensions of tropical fallowing systems. Her typology of fallowing systems, separating at the outset the aspect of residential movement from that of shifting locus of cultivation allows her to delineate three main types of system: 'culture itinerante'

121 121 121

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