Nathalie Peutz. Islands of Heritage: Conservation and Transformation in Yemen
Résumé
Monographs in social sciences dealing with Soqotra are few. Their number appears inversely proportional to the fascination that this Yemeni archipelago generates among Yemenis from the mainland, foreign biologists, tourists, and diplomats. One reason for this is obviously the difficulty of carrying out long‑term fieldwork there — not mainly because of security issues like elsewhere in Yemen, but due to the islands’ remoteness and their sparsity. As such, it is one of the true assets of Islands of Heritage to propose a captivating narrative of years of ethnographic work there. Yet, the book is much more than that, fostering convincing reflections for comparison on questions linked to culture, development and so‑called modernization...