Water and the Configuration of Social Worlds: An Anthropological Perspective

Abstract

From an anthropological perspective, water is not only the sine qua non of life in general, it is also seen to configure societies in particular ways, and to generate particular values. This will be substantiated in four moves. First, the hydrological cycle and other elementals of water will be discussed. Second, we shall zoom in on rivers, transforming natural resources and social communities as they bend and twist. Third, we shall discuss artificially established canals, emulating natural flows, but having their own long-term social and political implications. Fourth, we shall focus on wells, providing nodal points of social life and potential conflict. The article ends with some observations on water as a theory-machine.

Share and Cite:

K. Hastrup, "Water and the Configuration of Social Worlds: An Anthropological Perspective," Journal of Water Resource and Protection, Vol. 5 No. 4A, 2013, pp. 59-66. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2013.54A009.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] J. Linton, “What is Water? The History of a Modern Abstraction,” University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, Toronto, 2010.
[2] P. Perrault, “On the Origin of Springs,” Hafner, New York, 1967.
[3] R. Horton, “The Field, Scope and Status of the Science of Hydrology,” Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1931, pp. 189-202. doi:10.1029/TR012i001p00189-2
[4] D. R. Maidment, Ed., “Handbook of Hydrology,” McGraw-Hill, New York, 1993.
[5] Y.-F. Tuan, “The Hydrologic Cycle and the Wisdom of God: A Theme on Geoteleology,” University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1968.
[6] B. Orlove and S. C. Caton, “Water Sustainability: Anthropological Approaches and Prospects,” Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 39, 2010, pp. 401-415. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.105045
[7] K. Bakker, “Water: Political, Biopolitical, Material,” Social Studies of Science, Vol. 42, No. 4, 2012, pp. 616-623. doi:10.1177/0306312712441396
[8] V. Strang, “Common Senses: Water, Sensory Experiences and the Generation of Meaning,” Journal of Material Culture, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2005, pp. 92-120. doi:10.1177/1359183505050096
[9] S. Feld, “Waterfalls of Song. An Acoustemology of Place Resounding in Bosavi, Papua New Guinea,” In: S. Feld, S. and K. H. Basso, Eds., Senses of Place, School of American Research, Santa Fé, 1996, pp. 91-135.
[10] V. Strang, “Turning Water into Wine, Beef and Vegetables: Material Transformations along the Brisbane River,” Transforming Cultures Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2006, pp. 9-19.
[11] A. Carse, “Nature as Infrastructure: Making and Managing the Panama Canal Watershed,” Social Studies of Science, Vol. 42, No. 4, 2012, pp. 539-563. doi:10.1177/0306312712440166
[12] H. Verran, “Number as an Inventive Frontier in Knowing and Working Australia’s Water Resources,” Anthropological Theory, Vol. 10, No. 1-2, 2010, pp. 171-178. doi:10.1177/1463499610365383
[13] M. Kaika, “Dams as Symbols of Modernization: The Urbanization of Nature between Geographical Imagination and Materiality,” Annals of the Association of Ame- rican Geographers, Vol. 96, No. 2, 2006, pp. 276-301.
[14] C. Vium, “Nomad_Scapes. Mobility and Wayfinding as Resilience among Nomadic Pastoralists in the Islamic Republic of Mauretania,” In: K. Hastrup, Ed., The Question of Resilience. Social Responses to Climate Change, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen, 2009, pp. 178-196.
[15] K. Hastrup, “Waterworlds. Framing the Question of Social Resilience,” In: K. Hastrup, Ed., The Question of Resilience. Social Responses to Climate Change, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen, 2009, pp. 11-30.
[16] A. Hastrup, “The war in Darfur. Reclaiming Sudanese History,” Routledge, London, 2012.
[17] N. Anand, “Making Connections: Accessing Water in Mumbai’s Settlements,” In: H. P. Hahn, K. Cless and J. Soentgen, Eds., People at the Well. Kinds, Usages, and Meanings of Water in a Global Perspective, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt/New York, 2012, pp. 215-231.
[18] J. Barnes, “Pumping Possibility: Agricultural Expansion through Desert Reclamation in Egypt,” Social Studies of Science, Vol. 42, No. 4, 2012, pp. 517-538. doi:10.1177/0306312712438772
[19] A. Y. Hoekstra and A. K. Chapagain, “Globalization of Water: Sharing the Planet’s Freshwater Resources,” Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2008.
[20] S. Meissner, “Virtual Water and Water Footprints: Global Supply and Production Chains and Their Impacts on Freshwater Resources,” In: H. P. Hahn, K. Cless and J. Soentgen, Eds., People at the Well. Kinds, Usages, and Meanings of Water in a Global Perspective, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt/New York, 2012, pp. 44-78.
[21] S. Helmreich, “Nature/Culture/Seawater,” American Anthropologist, Vol. 113, No. 1, 2011, pp. 132-144. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2010.01311.x
[22] Z. Bauman, “Liquid Times. Living in an Age of Uncertainty,” Polity Press, Cambridge, 2007.
[23] W. Bijker, “Do We Live in Water Cultures? A Methodological Commentary,” Social Studies of Science, Vol. 42, No. 4, 2012, pp. 624-627. doi:10.1177/0306312712441690

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.