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Mixtecs perceive their landscapes as composed of "ugly places" - wilderness, out of human control - where supernatural beings remain, and "beautiful places" - under human control - where people live. Both spaces are complementary and constantly alternate. Mixtecs tell outsiders they are closer to the wilderness. But in fact, they do not think they are part of it, as they transform it into a human environment. (Résumé d'auteur)

Sur le plan traditionnel, les liens entre les peuples, la place et la terre sont très forts en Mélanésie, et Bonnemaison a démontré comment certains Mélanésiens incorporent la notion de mouvement et de migration dans leur façon de s'identifier avec cette place. Vu qu'il existe un pourcentage croissant d'Océaniens, s'échelonnant sur plusieurs générations, qui habitent en zone urbaine ou en dehors de la région insulaire, la question se pose quant à la forme d'identité avec les terres ancestrales qui serait maintenue dans l'avenir. (Résumé d'auteur)

In the Pacific lowlands of Colombia, for a long time isolated from the national society, the basic patterns of territorial appropriation find their place in the cultures built up for centuries by the black populations on the fringe of State logic or the market-place, even if some kind of relations have always existed. The 1991 Constitution and especially Law 70 of 1993, invite the black populations of the Pacific to claim their rights - amongst others, their territorial rights. This implies the making or invention of new institutions which do not tally necessarily with the norms decreed by the new legislation. (Résumé d'auteur)

Migration has always been a tradition for the Lobi from the North East of the Ivory Coast. This remains true to this day, but for a different set of reasons, of which the search for fertile lands to grow the early yam (to be sold in Abidjan) is the driving force. This new form of agriculture has by no means modified the group's ancestral codes of buying and selling food. However, income created thanks to this trade has resulted in social change throughout these new settlements, where long-held beliefs and practices stand alongside a need to adapt to the new market economy. (Résumé d'auteur)

An historical approach to the "depletion" of the living resources in the Savanna lands of West Africa is presented here. This will help to provide a better understanding of the overconsumption of space in future studies, as well as the drift towards mining in the use and development of resources today, and the impossibility of present populations formulating a responsible approach to management, whether this be as joint operators (with the State, for example) or as "self-managers". (Résumé d'auteur)