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.
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).
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