Social Actors and Preservation Mechanisms of Manuscript Heritage: A Sociological Approach to the Digitization Experience at the Ain Salah Repository

Abstract

The preservation of manuscript heritage is not limited to its material and technical dimensions related to document maintenance and protection against deterioration. Rather, it extends to constitute a social action reflecting kinship structures, symbolic power relations, and forms of collective organization within local communities that possess this heritage. This paper seeks to approach the phenomenon of manuscript preservation and digitization from a sociological perspective, taking the Ain Salah repository in the Tuat region as a field case study. The study employs Maurice Halbwachs' concept of collective memory and Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of cultural and symbolic capital to understand how manuscript possession transitions from private family ownership to an organized associative action responding to the imperatives of digital transformation. The study adopted a qualitative case study methodology, utilizing a semi-structured (in-depth) interview with the head of the Manuscript Repositories Association in Ain Salah as the primary respondent. Interview data were supported by a critical review of relevant local and international literature. The study concludes that digitization is not merely a purely technical procedure; rather, it is a social redefinition of the relationship between the individual/family and the group/institution in managing heritage. It serves as a mechanism to ensure the continuity of the region's collective memory against the risks of both material and symbolic obliteration.