Présentation

The articles in this issue of ‘Turath‘ deal with a variety of patrimony themes. The contributions are characterised by diversity, differentiation and overlap, as they deal with different geographical areas, ranging from southern Algeria, including Timmoun and Tamenrasset, to northern Algeria, including Algiers and its suburbs, in addition to Europe and America. In terms of time, the articles take us through several periods of our patrimony. The arts have also varied, from interpretations of the Melhoun or popular songs in particular, with their spiritual and mystical dimensions, to readings on the impact of various external factors on the cultural structure of society and the individual at the same time.

In a critical study of the Amazigh linguistic and literary patrimony in the Twat and Gouarara region, Achour Sergma proceeded with a preliminary approach to geographical landmarks and the Ahellil Izlwan, analysing ancient manuscripts and printed works after investigation and revision, as well as the oral linguistic patrimony still circulating through the generations. The researcher recorded a set of poems or Izlwan celebrating Ahellil in the Timimoun region, highlighting the link between the written, the printed and the oral, and the nature of the relationship between these levels in the region's local patrimony.

In the same context, and based on a field study of the Targui community, Abdennebi Zendri addressed the mythical imaginary theme in the construction of folklore through certain social and cultural manifestations of the Imouhag community in Tamanrasset by analysing festivals, religious and social events. In this respect, the author referred to several studies that have dealt with folklore from what he called the different intellectual orientations.

Not far from this context, Mehdi Berrached a paper on the Sufi aspect in Amar Al-Zahi's experience between El-Hadra and al-Shaabi's wedding. Religious and spiritual content was a key criterion in the choice of EL Melhoun by Shaabi singers in Algiers, called ‘jid’ as opposed to texts dealing with idyll or drunkenness, or what is called ‘El hezl’. One of the most important areas of this ‘jid’, as the author shows, is the lyrical genre known as ‘Elmadih’, which consists of praising the Prophet Muhammad and the Holy Kaaba. This article focuses on wedding ceremonies in Algiers, whose popular songs have preserved the religious and spiritual dimension to this day, with poems by the Sufi poets Sidi Lakhdar Ben Khellouf, Mohamed Ben Massayeb, Abdelaziz Maghraoui, Sheikh Mohamed Nadjar and Larbi Meknassi, all embodied in the songs of the artist Amar Al-Zahi.

In addition, the Spanish José Antonio González Alcantud, a specialist in Andalusian studies, examines the connotations of ‘Andalusia’ as a transhistorical meaning and its practical embodiment in terms of architectural monuments and Andalusian music. On this basis, the author identifies divergent realities with regard to Andalusia, combining Spanish, French and North American influences. The article shows that these realities have been the object of great intellectual interest for three centuries, by comparing the intellectual production of these three regions and its manifestations, to arrive at what he calls the
post-colonial horizon. Through this analytical approach, the author aims to question the voice of ‘Andalusia’ by giving the floor to its inhabitants, whether of Iberian, North African or Mediterranean origin.

In a different context, Sidi Mohamed Lakhdar Baraka raised the question of ambiguity in the margins of the text, or what might be called footnotes, on the basis of what he calls models presented in open space, where they are not governed by any methodological authority and do not adhere to any requirements in terms of publication and authorship.
He constructs his text from the space of the teacher who transmits knowledge and literature. The author also stresses the impact of the emergence of teaching in Algeria on the multiplicity and diversity of readers and the contradictions it has brought with it, which may not suit a society with an oral tradition that has no printing tradition of its own.
In this context, he emphasizes the need for a constructive examination and a dispassionate re-reading to uncover the negative effects and consumer culture patterns of this phenomenon. It particularly works at educational level, where the language of commerce and the logic of added intellectual value predominate, and where the margin becomes an ideological gamble par excellence.

Finally, based on a critical reading of Elizabeth Fernea’s "The Sheikh's Guests" (1965), the American Elizabeth Bishop proposes a re-reading of this ethnographic work, which relates an anthropological experience that goes beyond the biography of the author, who lived in Iraq for a long time. The author re-reads Fernea as an anthropologist who coexisted ethnographically in a distinctly Arab environment in eastern Iraq, before becoming a feminist activist. Through the application of artificial intelligence, the researcher rereads Fernea’s "The Sheikh’s Guests" through a critique of the author’s trajectory, focusing on the importance of architectural space in any society as a key indicator for understanding different social behaviours.