Contribution short abstract

I propose to mobilize hydraulic infrastructure as a conceptual lens to productively explore re/configuration dynamics within hydrosocial spaces. This I exemplify by tracing the Turkey-Northern Cyprus Water Pipeline, attending to the infrastructuring of northern Cyprus and the island's division.

Contribution long abstract

Aside from facilitating flows of H₂O, hydraulic infrastructure as reflective of power structures emerges as a shaping force and central node within hydrosocial spaces. The intricate means of how hydraulic infrastructures re/configures hydrosocial relations throughout its lifecycle remain, however, conceptually blurry and in demand of closer examination.

I propose to explore this matter from within, by examining occurring dynamics through the infrastructure in mobilizing hydraulic infrastructure as a perspective. Attending to its hybrid nature – its material, relational and imaginative forms – directs the gaze through the mosaic of different infrastructural de/stabilizations while pointing to epistemological entry points for closer empirical examination. In mapping those, I disentangle how hydraulic infrastructure acts to transform relations between space, people, and materiality throughout its biography, thereby also highlighting the importance of explicitly considering different temporalities in the study of hydraulic infrastructure.

Empirically tracing the Turkey-Northern Cyprus Water Pipeline in its multisitedness while being attentive to its un/settling momentum, I exemplify what insights can be generated when seeing through a pipeline. Anchoring each infrastructure vignette at a different stage within the pipeline’s lifecycle, I show how the undersea freshwater flows rework relations across scales, actors, and temporal spans. Relating these dynamics to the island’s division while positioning the water transfer project within its geohistorical context, I bring to the fore the intersecting temporalities of the water pipeline with those of northern Cyprus as a de facto state, thereby illuminating the intricate ways of the pipeline’s infrastructuring of the Cyprus conflict.