Les territorialités nocturnes à La Réunion : des rapports à la nuit en recomposition

Abstract

This article looks at the nocturnal temporalities and nocturnal territorialities of daily practices and uses on Reunion Island. Until now, few social science studies have succeeded in moving away from the large metropolises of the North to look at the nights of tropical urban spaces. In this perspective, one of the basic tasks is to study the place of darkness in the experience and imagination of the Reunionese populations, in the hope that a better knowledge and understanding of nocturnal territorialities could help to consolidate approaches to the protection of the nocturnal environment in the day-to-day planning of the territories. For several decades now, the island has seen its countryside undergo a profound transformation, some of which have been marked by the exodus, while others have been swallowed up in an uncontrolled urbanization process. It is in this context that our team, in partnership with the National Park of Reunion Island, has begun to set up a more comprehensive approach to the protection of the nocturnal environment and to bring social issues into the public debate, by bringing to the forefront, alongside light pollution and its ecological effects, the question of the specific temporalities of the nocturnal environment by taking into account perceptions, practices and modes of daily living.

Keywords

• practices and uses
• tropical night
• nocturnal territorialities
• Night-Time Environment
• Observatory of the nocturnal environment