Siwa, the Berber oasis where cultures cross
p. 92-93
Texte intégral
| 4th century BC | 1928 | 28,000 | 250,000 | 2002 |
| Alexander the Great visits the temple of Amun | King Fuad visits the oasis | Inhabitants of the oasis in 2017 | Number of date palms | Siwa classified as a protected zone |
| Sources: Battesti, 2013; CAPMAS, 2017; Fakhry 1973 | ||||
1Situated roughly 50 km from the border with Libyan and 300 km from the Mediterranean coast, Siwa is the most westerly and northerly oasis of the Western Desert. It is the furthest eastern outpost of the Tamazgha, the lands traditionally inhabited by the Berbers. The journey from Cairo via Marsa Matruh (capital of the governorate) is long, reinforcing Siwa’s position on the edge. The oasis was conquered by Muslim forces in 640 but was only converted to Islam in the 12th century. Despite being integrated into Egypt in 1820 by Mohamed Ali, real control over the oasis was only gradually achieved. Egyptianisation accelerated after the visit of King Fuad who ordered the completion of the mosque, and the opening of a hospital and a school.
2The oasis stretches almost 100 km from east to west, and ranges from 5 to 29 km in width. It sits below sea level but is punctuated with inselbergs, outcrops on which fortified villages built of karshif (salt, sand and clay) once perched. The settlements have since spread out around these knolls. The main town sits at the foot of Shali fortress (13th century), flanked to the west by the villages of El-Maraqi and Bahei el-Din, and to the east by Aghurmi and Abu Shruf el-Kafrawi. The municipality of Siwa includes the oasis of El-Gara (Om el-Serir) some 130 km distant.
5.5 Siwa Oasis seen from above

Water, trees and ecotourism
3Water, palm trees and olive groves are the principal natural resources of the oasis. A thorough irrigation system enables the cultivation of dates and olives. Industrial units bottle the water, pack the dates and related products, and process the olives and oil that are sold throughout the country. Rock salt has recently been marketed internationally. The clear, crystalline waters of the springs, of which there were 2000 in antiquity though only 200 today, were once at the heart of Siwan rituals and practices: brides would bathe in the Juba spring on the eve of their wedding night, and widows would go to the same spring 40 days after the death of their husband.
4Since the 1990s tourism has underpinned the oasis economy, with many projects promoting cultural and sustainable tourism. A centre documenting the cultural and natural heritage of Siwa was opened in 2012 as a result of a project financed by European funds. The well-paying tourist sector provides employment for the local population as hotel staff or guides, as well as in satellite activities like craftwork. The manufacture of silver jewellery, embroidery, baskets and pottery has grown to satisfy the visitors’ quest for authenticity. A process of transforming local tradition into heritage has promoted the use of karshif as a construction material in the name of ecological tourism. As a result, the inhabitants, who had mostly used concrete masonry blocks for the past few decades, have been encouraged by the authorities since the beginning of the 21st century to cover them up with the ochre clay recreating a “traditional” architecture look.
5.6 The eco-lodge Adrere Amellal, 2011

© Valentina Serrelli
Berbers, Siwans and Egyptians
5The population of Siwa is a mixture composed of Berber-speaking tribes, Arab Bedouin (now settled) and “Egyptians”. There are many mixed marriages. Local affiliations combine with a feeling of national belonging.
6Ten tribes speaking an eastern Berber language (Siwi) inhabit the oases of Siwa and El-Gara. Their members observe a system of spatial separation of the sexes, and, for example, married women do not work outside the home. A sense of Berber allegiance with its own particularities has been revived in the 21st century with the development of tourism and the spread of a certain Berber-speaking activism. A letter from the Tifinagh alphabet, symbol of the Amazigh people, now marks the name of one of the bazaars at the foot of ancient Shali.
7The Shahibat Bedouin, a branch of the Awlad Ali tribe, settled in Siwa at the beginning of the 20th century and now counts some 2000 members, who inhabit the peripheral villages of the oasis (Bahei el-Din, El-Maraqi, Abu Shruf el-Kafrawi). The Bedouin consider themselves to be one single family, and the cohesion of the group is fostered by the prevailing endogamy and the shared use of a Bedouin dialect of Arabic. The “Egyptians” have come from different regions of the country and are settled in the oasis for work, if they were not born there. They do not constitute a close-knit group and are spread among the different villages.
8The Berber monolingualism of the last century no longer exists: the majority of inhabitants are bilingual, speaking Egyptian dialectal Arabic and Siwi. The population of the oasis is a composite community, illustrating the merger of different cultural influences.
5.7 The centre of Siwa town seen from Shali fortress, with Jebel al-Mota in the background, 2018

© Valentina Serrelli
Auteur
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Valentina Serreli
Valentina Serrelli, assistant professor in Arabic studies, University of Bayreuth
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