Watershed Politics and Climate Change in Peru (Anthropology, Culture and Society)

This book travels to the heart of power, inequality and injustice in water politics. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Peru, Astrid B. Stensrud explores the impact of climate change and extractivist neoliberal policies – including Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), a global paradigm that views water as a finite resource in need of management. Engaging with the many different actors and entities participating in the constitution of the watershed – from engineers, bureaucrats and farmers, to mountains, springs and canals – Stensrud shines light on different yet entangled water practices and water worlds and how both the watershed and our understanding of water itself have changed. Challenging hegemonic understandings, the book moves beyond conventional perspectives of political ecology and political economy to achieve a decolonial perspective. This book travels to the heart of power, inequality and injustice in water politics. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Peru, Astrid B. Stensrud explores the impact of climate change and extractivist neoliberal policies including Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), a global paradigm that views water as a finite resource in need of management. Where the local bureaucracy has adapted to IWRM and a new water culture is being fostered amongst the population, Stensrud examines the tensions arising between indigeneity and modernity, between multiple worldmaking practices and questions of power and standardization. Engaging with the many different actors and entities participating in the constitution of the watershed from engineers, bureaucrats and farmers, to animals, mountains, springs and canals Stensrud shines light on different practices and meanings of water and how both the watershed and our understanding of water itself have changed over the last few decades. Methodologically innovative, Watershed Politics and Climate Change in Peru makes an original contribution to the scholarship on global-local relationships. This book travels to the heart of power, inequality and injustice in water politics. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Peru, Astrid B. Stensrud explores the impact of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), an extractivist global water paradigm that views water as a finite resource in need of management. Where the local bureaucracy has adapted to IWRM and a new water culture is being fostered amongst the population, Stensrud examines the tensions arising between 'indigeneity' and 'modernity', between cultural practices and questions of power. Engaging with the many different actors and entities participating in the constitution of the watershed - from engineers, politicians and bureaucrats, to farmers, workers and animals - Stensrud shines light on how both the watershed and our understanding of water itself have changed over the last few decades. Methodologically innovative, Watershed Politics and Climate Change in Peru makes an original contribution to the scholarship on global-local relationships Cover 1 Contents 6 Maps and Figures 8 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 9 List of Words in Quechua and Spanish 10 Series Preface 11 Acknowledgements 12 Introduction: Water and Watershed Politics 16 1. Engineering Water Flows 42 2. Colonising the Desert 67 3. Water Payments 92 4. Water Uncertainties and Disasters 113 5. Water Efficiency 136 6. Legible and Illegible Water 158 7. Owning Water 178 Conclusion: Water Multiplicity 201 Notes 209 Bibliography 214 Index 229 A critique of the global emphasis on water’s economic value and extractivist policies, based on an ethnography of a watershed in Peru