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- Convenors:
-
Humberto Martins
(CRIA-UMinho)
Mireia Campanera (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
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- Discussant:
-
Paulo Mendes
(UTAD)
- Stream:
- Environment
- Location:
- Aula 19
- Sessions:
- Monday 15 April, -
Time zone: Europe/Madrid
Short Abstract:
In this panel we propose to widen the anthropological debate on climatic issues and we invite ethnographies of drylands; places where people live with few amount of water. Considering drier or normally dry living conditions we want to know ways of dealing with these new and transforming conditions.
Long Abstract:
The world experiments big transformations. Living conditions (not only those available for humans) are changing. Anthropocene is not so much a new geological era but mainly a big challenge for human survival. Anthropology is a field of knowledge that must be aware of everything that affects human lives and (increasingly) lives of those that share the planet Earth with us. This panel intends to explore ethnographies directly produced to know contexts, lives, and experiences of those who are living or are used to live with water scarcity; but we also invite knowledge produced originally with different goals but that can reveal changing environmental conditions. Droughts are a big issue in many places in the world so is potable water scarcity. Meanwhile for water is needed for agroindustries or touristic cities and developments. While new technological solutions are being created by governments and private companies, many individuals and communities face the spectrum of a drier world. This is a complex debate, produced under an environmental anthropology, a political and economic anthropology but also an anthropology that approaches psychological transformations felt by people who perceive and feel that conditions where they normally live are becoming unbearable. A drier world is not an inevitability for everyone everywhere. Again, disparities are felt differently. So the panel is quite open in its scope - water (less, few or many and more) is the central element and we want to discuss the (creative and transformative) uses of it.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Monday 15 April, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
In the semi-arid of Ceará, Brazil, inequality is a salient issue, and water is the common denominator to regional strife. Ethnographic work in Ceará shows how water conflicts reflect the diverse values of water in the region and the technoscientific views that dominate water management.
Paper long abstract:
The inter-basin dynamics of the Jaguaribe Valley and the city of Fortaleza ("the Jaguaribe-RMF system") in Ceará (northeast Brazil) is a microcosm of the water challenges faced in water-limited environments worldwide. Ethnographic work in the region has revealed that discussions related to water in the Jaguaribe-RMF system go back and forth between the innate struggle for survival in the harsh semi-arid environment and the need to learn to live in harmony with the region. Water in the region is highly contested as the region faces vulnerability to drought and increasing water demands and technoscientific approaches continue to be favored by the state. Fortaleza is a major metropolitan area and home to the state's key government agencies and the majority of the state's population. Decisions related to bulk water distribution are decentralized to the river-basin level, yet the decisions made by river basin committees are structured around technical information provided by the state, including meteorological predictions and allocation scenarios. Many living in the Jaguaribe Valley feel resentment toward the state as rural areas are left without reliable water supplies. At the same time, disparities in water access among users serving on a specific river basin committee result in intra-committee conflicts. Restrictions on agricultural practices meant to increase the efficiency of water use often fail to consider the challenges of farmers who must devise new methods to support their families. Inequality is a salient issue at all levels, and water is the common denominator to the strife that permeates the region.
Paper short abstract:
This research will tackle Marian hagiographies related to drought and the lack of access to fresh water during the early modern period. This study is also a counter-mapping of the sacred and the profane with water and the changing access and availability of it at the core of the narrative.
Paper long abstract:
The devotion to the Inang Maria is one of the most noticeable traditions in the Philippines. The cult or devotion to her has produced countless rituals such as novenas, processions, and pilgrimages accepted as part of Filipino heritage and culture. This paper is an initial exploration on the geography of belief, local histories and Marian hagiographies during the colonial Philippines. The hagiographies are juxtaposed with the missionary accounts commenting on the indigenous culture they encounter, while narrating their conversion efforts. This research will focus on the hagiographies of Marian apparitions in relation to drought and lack of access to fresh drinking water during the early contact years of colonization. In particular, this paper interrogates the Marian miracles and the consequent fluvial processions and other devotional practices in relation to waterways. The paper will also be looking at the continuities and/or discontinuities in the sacred meaning and functionality of the river between pre-Christian Austronesian roots of the natives and Spanish folk Catholicism brought by the missionaries. Mapping the Marian hagiographies related to drought is another way of looking at the early colonial period of the Philippines, a way of counter-mapping that blends the sacred and the profane, with water and the changing access and availability of it, at the core of the narrative. The conclusions of this study contextualizes the lack of water and the devotion to Mary as an act of appropriation and syncretism by the natives caught between the processes of evangelization and colonization.
Paper short abstract:
This is an interrogative paper. While preparing a research project on water scarcity in Portugal and Spain I would like to explore and discuss issues that inform the project. Which are the creative responses people develop when living with few water?
Paper long abstract:
This proposal is part of the preparation of a research project on water scarcity in the Iberian Peninsula. Still in the phase of conceptualization and exploration of research lines, I intend to submit a set of questions to the critical view of the panel. Issues such as climate change, environment, risk, living conditions, sustainability, culture, experience, creativity, memory are at stake, considering the need for a multilocal and longitudinal ethnographic approach. What contributions can anthropology give to a better understanding of how humans coexist with (lack of) water, at a time of various announced catastrophisms, environmental crises and shortage of this vital resource?