The Social Life of Water

Published by Berghahn Books 2013

The Social Life of Water

Edited by: John R. Wagner

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780857459671

Overview
Contents

About this book

Everywhere in the world communities and nations organize themselves in relation to water. We divert water from rivers, lakes, and aquifers to our homes, workplaces, irrigation canals, and hydro-generating stations. We use it for bathing, swimming, recreation, and it functions as a symbol of purity in ritual performances. In order to facilitate and manage our relationship with water, we develop institutions, technologies, and cultural practices entirely devoted to its appropriation and distribution, and through these institutions we construct relations of class, gender, ethnicity, and nationality. Relying on first-hand ethnographic research, the contributors to this volume examine the social life of water in diverse settings and explore the impacts of commodification, urbanization, and technology on the availability and quality of water supplies. Each case study speaks to a local set of issues, but the overall perspective is global, with representation from all continents.

Author / Editor information

John R. Wagner is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. He conducts research in Canada, the United States and Papua New Guinea and has published several journal articles on water governance in the Okanagan Valley. In 2007 he was lead guest editor of Customs, Commons, Property and Ecology, a special edition of Human Organization devoted to an analysis of Pacific Island customary property rights systems. Recent publications include “Water and the Commons Imaginary” in the Public Anthropology Forum of Current Anthropology (2012).

Reviews

“The Social Life of Water successfully addresses a wide range of issues concerning the meanings and uses of water in relation to culture, society, and development. As a volume, it shows how a focus on social life opens up new analytical possibilities of broader relevance to the study of water. Moreover, many of the chapters explore contexts and regions not previously covered in work on these topics.” · Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute

“…this volume [is to be] recommended to readers interested in the anthropology of water and to those who wish to teach a course on the subject for both undergraduate and graduate students. The diversity of the topics covered in the book and the methodological and theoretical issues raised, provide several excellent teachable moments not to be missed. It also testifies to the richness of topics and ways in which the social lives of water can and should be explored by anthropologists in the future.” · Anthropological Notebooks

“For anthropologists working in the water field, the book provides useful material to help the water field incorporate good social practice, research and theory into a transdisciplinary field currently interested in incorporating it into policy and management.” · Water Alternatives

“This book fills an important niche on water related issues in anthropology by focusing on social and cultural manifestations of water management, use, and conflict… The organization is appropriate and effective.” · Benedict J. Colombi, American Indian Studies Program, University of Arizona

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
ILLUSTRATIONS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
INTRODUCTION John Richard Wagner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I COMMODIFICATION
Chapter 1 CONTESTING EQUIVALENCES Controversies over Water and Mining in Peru and Chile Fabiana Li Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Chapter 2 DAM NATION Cubbie Station and the Waters of the Darling Veronica Strang Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	36
Chapter 3 WATER AND ILL-BEING Displaced People and Dam-Based Development in India Lyla Mehta Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
Part II WATER AND TECHNOLOGY
Chapter 4 AESTHETICS OF A RELATIONSHIP Nefissa Naguib Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
Chapter 5 LA PILA DE SAN JUAN Historic Transformations of Water as a Public Symbol in Suchitoto, El Salvador Hugo De Burgos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
Chapter 6 NOT SO BORING Assembling and Reassembling Groundwater Tales and Technologies from Malerkotla, Punjab Rita Brara Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
Chapter 7 KENYAN LANDSCAPE, IDENTITY, AND ACCESS Swathi Veeravalli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
Part III URBANIZATION
Chapter 8 HEALTH CHALLENGES OF URBAN POVERTY AND WATER SUPPLY IN NORTHERN GHANA Issaka Kanton Osumanu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
Chapter 9 THE RISK OF WATER Dengue Prevention and Control in Urban Cambodia Sarah C. Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Chapter 10 THE WATER CRISIS IN IRELAND The Sociopolitical Contexts of Risk in Contemporary Society Liam Leonard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Part IV GOVERNANCE
Chapter 11 FAIRNESS AND THE HUMAN RIGHT TO WATER A Preliminary Cross-Cultural Theory Amber Wutich, Alexandra Brewis, Sveinn Sigurdsson, Rhian Stotts and Abigail York Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
Chapter 12 INDIGENOUS WATER GOVERNANCE AND RESISTANCE A Syilx Perspective Marlowe Sam and Jeannette Armstrong Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Chapter 13 BUREAUCRATIC BRICOLAGE AND ADAPTIVE COMANAGEMENT IN INDONESIAN IRRIGATION Bryan Bruns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
Chapter 14 ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSIGHTS INTO STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION IN WATER MANAGEMENT OF THE EDWARDS AQUIFER IN TEXAS John M. Donahue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278
CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	298
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 326
Keywords: Environmental Studies (General); Anthropology (General)

eBook

Published: August 1, 2013
ISBN: 9780857459671