Traditional Crafts and Socio-Economic Dynamics at a Territorial Scale: The Case of Sfax in Tunisia[Artisanat traditionnel et Dynamique socioéconomique à l'échelle d'un territoire: Le cas de Sfax en Tunisie]

The failures that have sanctioned several experiences of industrialization in the Southern countries, combined with a lasting slowdown of growth in the Northern ones, raises, in a new way, the question of development, from the early 1980's. The fact is that this unfavourable evolution has not been noticed everywhere; some special areas have even known a real dynamism. A major feature of the economic activities conducted in these relatively prosperous areas, is that they are deeply rooted in the history of the territories where they are taking place, and rely on the local socio-cultural values as one of their key-factors of vitality. In North Africa region (the subject of this book), several examples testify to this remarkable vitality. Sfax, the economic capital city of southern Tunisia, is a particularly interesting case to analyze. In this case, through what forms the local economic processes are developed, and on what resources are they based? What is the place, in these processes, of the ancestral craft activities and of the skills associated with them? How do these craft activities fit into the modern economic systems and how they adapt to it? These are the questions addressed in this reflection. Beyond these questions, the core issue is: how the ancient craft activities (which are a historical inheritance) may be a base for a dynamic territorial system and thus contribute to the emergence of a new development scheme in the zones where they are rationally developed.