The Social Life of Water / / ed. by John R. Wagner.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Armstrong, Jeannette,; Brara, Rita,; Brewis, Alexandra,; Bruns, Bryan,; De Burgos, Hugo,; Donahue, John M.,; Leonard, Liam,; Li, Fabiana,; Mehta, Lyla,; Naguib, Nefissa,; Osumanu, Issaka Kanton,; Sam, Marlowe,; Sigurdsson, Sveinn,; Smith, Sarah C.,; Stotts, Rhian,; Strang, Veronica,; Veeravalli, Swathi,; Wagner, John Richard,; Wutich, Amber,; York, Abigail,
• HerausgeberIn: Wagner, John R.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2013]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (326 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- Part I COMMODIFICATION -- Chapter 1 CONTESTING EQUIVALENCES Controversies over Water and Mining in Peru and Chile -- Chapter 2 DAM NATION Cubbie Station and the Waters of the Darling -- Chapter 3 WATER AND ILL-BEING Displaced People and Dam-Based Development in India -- Part II WATER AND TECHNOLOGY -- Chapter 4 AESTHETICS OF A RELATIONSHIP -- Chapter 5 LA PILA DE SAN JUAN Historic Transformations of Water as a Public Symbol in Suchitoto, El Salvador -- Chapter 6 NOT SO BORING Assembling and Reassembling Groundwater Tales and Technologies from Malerkotla, Punjab -- Chapter 7 KENYAN LANDSCAPE, IDENTITY, AND ACCESS -- Part III URBANIZATION -- Chapter 8 HEALTH CHALLENGES OF URBAN POVERTY AND WATER SUPPLY IN NORTHERN GHANA -- Chapter 9 THE RISK OF WATER Dengue Prevention and Control in Urban Cambodia -- Chapter 10 THE WATER CRISIS IN IRELAND The Sociopolitical Contexts of Risk in Contemporary Society -- Part IV GOVERNANCE -- Chapter 11 FAIRNESS AND THE HUMAN RIGHT TO WATER A Preliminary Cross-Cultural Theory -- Chapter 12 INDIGENOUS WATER GOVERNANCE AND RESISTANCE A Syilx Perspective -- Chapter 13 BUREAUCRATIC BRICOLAGE AND ADAPTIVE COMANAGEMENT IN INDONESIAN IRRIGATION -- Chapter 14 ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSIGHTS INTO STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION IN WATER MANAGEMENT OF THE EDWARDS AQUIFER IN TEXAS -- CONTRIBUTORS -- INDEX