The conceptual approach of oasis as insights on globalisation. Example of the coastal valleys of northern and central Peru

Abstract

Beyond the description of a specific type of landscape, the concept of an oasis is useful to understand the spatial transformations produced by contemporary globalisation. The coastal valleys of northern and central Peru are a good example. The logic of their changes is based on the assumption of the greater competitivity of large agricultural companies, which has led the actors, including the State, to reorganise the space in a particular way. Today, territorial enclaves adjoin the old irrigated areas. This chapter questions the issues of this reorganisation on the basis of two characteristics specific to oases: their organisation around the circulation of water and their role as crossroads of human movements, which is often reflected by the constitution of true centralities. This conceptualisation of the oasis, no longer as a type of landscape but as a system of spatial relationships, enables an analysis of the way in which the enclaves reorganise, paradoxically, the whole of the spaces in which they develop. This process seems to be a relevant example of the transformation of territorial hierarchies in globalisation.