Mobility and circulation of knowledge among potters
of the Arewa (South-Western Niger):
impact of the frameworks of practice
on the spatial distribution of ceramics' techniques

Claire Corniquet (1)

1 ULB - Université libre de Bruxelles

At first glance, Pottery is an activity practiced alone. Nevertheless, the field enquiries in Arewa reveal that at each stage of the “chaîne opératoire” the craftswoman is in more or less close contact with others practitioners.
Whether these contacts are organised or informal, the gatherings take place in the context of some operating chain's stage situated at different scales. This paper proposes a study of the contacts' points and degrees which link and interconnect the potters from different localities of this area, and the impact of the shared space of practice on the technical ceramics' distribution. Analysing the “context of practice”, we would explain the technical configurations of this area.

Mots clés: frameworks of practice; Africa; ethnoarchaelogy; pottery; social dynamic; frameworks of practice.

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire; Géographie

Claire Corniquet. Mobility and circulation of knowledge among potters
of the Arewa (South-Western Niger):
impact of the frameworks of practice
on the spatial distribution of ceramics' techniques. Archaedyn
7 millennia of territorial dynamics
Settlement pattern, production and trades from Neolithic to Middle Ages, Jun 2008, Dijon, France. ⟨halshs-00415956⟩