Healing war wounds and perfuming exile: the use of vegetal animal and mineral products for perfumes cosmetics and skin healing among Sahrawi refugees of Western Sahara

摘要

BackgroundOver the past decade, there has been growing interest within ethnobiology in the knowledge and practices of migrating people. Within this, scholars have given relatively less attention to displaced people and refugees: to the loss, maintenance, and adaptation of refugees’ ethnobiological knowledge, and to its significance for refugees’ wellbeing. This study focuses on cosmetics and remedies used to heal skin afflictions that are traditionally used by Sahrawi refugees displaced in South Western Algerian refugee camps.