ABSTRACT

Limited, finite, contaminated, unavailable or expensive, water divides people all around the globe. We all cannot do without water for long, but can for long enough to fight for it. 

This commonsensical narration of water conflicts, however, follows a pattern of scarcity and necessity that is remarkably unvaried despite different social and geographical contexts.

Through in-depth case studies from around the globe, this volume investigates this similarity of narration—confronting the power of a single story by taking it seriously instead of dismissing it. In so doing, it invites the reader to rethink water conflicts and how they are commonly understood and managed. 
 
This book:

  • Posits the existence of the idea of water conflict, and asks what it is and what it produces, thus how it is used to pursue particular interests and to legitimise specific historical, technological and environmental relations;
  • Examines the meaning and power of ideas as compared to other categories of knowledge, advancing theoretical frameworks related to environmental knowledge, discursive power, social constructivism;
  • Presents an alternative agenda to deepen the conversation around water conflicts among scholars and activists.

Of interest to scholars and activists alike, this volume is addressed to those involved with environmental conflicts, environmental knowledge and justice, disasters and climate change from the disciplinary angles of environmental anthropology and sociology, political ecology and economy, science and technology studies, human geography and environmental sciences, development and cooperation, public policy and peace studies.

Essays by Gina Bloodworth, Ben Bowles, Patrick BresnihanLuisa CortesiMattia Grandi, K. J. Joy, Midori KawabeAdrianne Kroepsch, Vera LazzarettiLeslie MabonRenata Moreno Quintero, Madhu Ramnath, Jayaprakash Rao Polsani, Dik Roth, Theresa Selfa,Veronica Strang, Mieke van Hemert, Jeroen WarnerMadelinde Winnubst

chapter |25 pages

Introduction

Water conflicts: the social life of an idea

part 1|66 pages

Agential purchase of the idea

chapter 1|22 pages

Can’t trust

The boaters of the waterways of South East England versus ‘the charity that makes you homeless’

chapter 2|18 pages

Fighting against harmful rumours, or for fisheries?

Evaluating framings and narrations of risk governance in marine radiation after the Fukushima nuclear accident

chapter 3|24 pages

Room for the river, no room for conflict

Narratives of participation, win-win, consensus, and co-creation in Dutch spatial flood risk management

part 2|60 pages

Instrumentalisation of the idea of water conflict

chapter 5|18 pages

When oil meets water

Debating the hydraulic fracturing energy–water nexus in Colorado

chapter 6|18 pages

Water and conflicts around religious heritage

Oscillations between centre and periphery?

part 3|94 pages

Naturalisation of ecological, technological, and historical relations

chapter 7|21 pages

Taming the Cauca river

Community and sugar landowners’ contrasting narratives in addressing flood risk in Valle del Cauca, Colombia

chapter 8|18 pages

Images of the Nile

How competing narratives frame water disputes

chapter 10|18 pages

The negation of change as a narrative strategy of control

The case of the Polavaram mega-dam in India

chapter |13 pages

Conclusion

Deepening the conversation around water conflicts