Presentation short abstract

We are proposing a multilingual, polyphonic and travelling Porte-paroles (Words-Carrier) which brings together experiences and practices of Water Care from all around the world in the form of an open, travelling and ongoing series of posters.

Presentation long abstract

Based on the metaphor of Confluence proposed by Brazilian quilombola thinker Antonio Bispo, we have initiated a series of posters called Porte-paroles (Fr.) or Words-Carrier (Eng.), as a cosmopolitical proposition for thinking with care about water in various regions of the world. The Confluence expresses the possibility that different kind of knowledge and understandings of water can flow and flourish together without canceling each other, without domination or hierarchy.

It is a method that encourage the confluence(s) of words and images that reveal the relational and practical commitment to caring for water in different places around the world. Water is cosmopolitical in that it is both universal and particular. The ways in which we relate to and care for it are also necessarily cosmopolitical. We bring together locally grounded voices about caring, living and relating to water, to foster exchange and dialogue that acknowledge water as an essential element of life and as and common good. Inspired by the work of John Law and Annemarie Mol (2020) we suggest to keep words (Cuidar in Spanish – Care in English – Uyaway in Quechua, Nuñūtun in Mapudungun – Prendre Soin in French, etc.) in their original system of signification to enrich care repertoires, and lean about their tensions. Our aim is to raise awareness of locally rooted Water Care practices, and the need to rethink water research methods by paying close attention to words, slowing down the translation process, and studying how words are enacted in different water practices.