: Good and bad years in the Sahel : climate and folk meteorology in Soninke land (Mauritania, Senegal) in the 19th and 20th centuries

摘要

Climate knowledge and prevision are important concepts within the Soninke savoir-faire in adapting to the constraints of the Sahelian environment. Weather perception and time structuration are closely linked, even though calendars originating from Islam and French colonisation overlap the traditional agricultural calendar. The Soninke are particularly concerned with available water, whether it comes from the "useful rains" of the rainy season, river floods or dry season dew. Weather forecasting is based on observation of animals and plants. It plays a part in agricultural strategies, together with socio-economic factors such as land resources or available manpower. The forecasting methods, which do not include adages referring to relatively fixed yearly timing marks as in Europe, show the important role of the calendrical system in constituting and transmitting meteorological knowledge.