Thierry Mauger
Thierry Mauger (1947–2017) was a French engineer, writer, traveler, photographer, and ethnographer widely recognized for his extensive documentation of the culture and life in the southern Asir region of Saudi Arabia during the 1980s.
Early Life and Career
Mauger initially arrived in Saudi Arabia in 1979 to work as a radar engineer. During a decade-long stay in the country, he traveled extensively, driven by a deep fascination with the authentic Saudi culture, particularly in the remote and then little-known Asir region. He later moved there and devoted himself to studying and documenting the local art, architecture, and traditions, capturing approximately 10,000 photographs that were subsequently published in numerous books.
Mauger initially arrived in Saudi Arabia in 1979 to work as a radar engineer. During a decade-long stay in the country, he traveled extensively, driven by a deep fascination with the authentic Saudi culture, particularly in the remote and then little-known Asir region. He later moved there and devoted himself to studying and documenting the local art, architecture, and traditions, capturing approximately 10,000 photographs that were subsequently published in numerous books.
Education and Research
Mauger pursued scholarly work while in France, publishing a work on the image in the Arab world and earning a doctoral degree (social anthropology and ethnology) from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) with a dissertation on the vernacular architecture of Asir. He also shared the life of the Arctic Inuit in 1985 and conducted studies on the use of the yurt in Kyrgyzstan.
