Boulay, Sébastien

Desert Tourism in the Mauritanian Adrar: “Translocal” Networks, Whole Economy, and Social Changes - 2006.


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This article deals with the recent creation of organized tourism in Mauritanian Adrar, which offers walking tours in the desert, embellished with visits to historic sites. This type of tourism, often clothed by its operators with a “solidarity” ideology, favours the movement of people and cultures, projects and resources, and the generation of links between professionals, visitors and the people visited. The study first examines the role of such circulation in engendering new social networks, then looks into the notion of solidarity economy, the issues and strategies that it masks, and finally examines the local assimilation of this new resource and the social and identity-related changes that are the conveyed expression of this effort of adaptation.