Hydrosocial territories: a political ecology perspective

We define and explore hydrosocial territories as spatial configurations of people, institutions, water flows, hydraulic technology and the biophysical environment that revolve around the control of water. Territorial politics finds expression in encounters of diverse actors with divergent spatial and political-geographical interests. Their territory-building projections and strategies compete, superimpose and align to strengthen specific water-control claims. Thereby, actors continuously recompose the territory’s hydraulic grid, cultural reference frames, and political-economic relationships. Using a political ecology focus, we argue that territorial struggles go beyond battles over natural resources as they involve struggles over meaning, norms, knowledge, identity, authority and discourses.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Boelens, Rutgerd, Hoogesteger van Dijk, Jaime, Swyngedouw, Erik, Vos, Jeroen, Wester, Philippus
Format: Article/Letter to editor biblioteca
Language:English
Subjects:governmentality, hydrosocial territories, political ecology, scalar politics, water governance,
Online Access:https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/hydrosocial-territories-a-political-ecology-perspective
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We define and explore hydrosocial territories as spatial configurations of people, institutions, water flows, hydraulic technology and the biophysical environment that revolve around the control of water. Territorial politics finds expression in encounters of diverse actors with divergent spatial and political-geographical interests. Their territory-building projections and strategies compete, superimpose and align to strengthen specific water-control claims. Thereby, actors continuously recompose the territory’s hydraulic grid, cultural reference frames, and political-economic relationships. Using a political ecology focus, we argue that territorial struggles go beyond battles over natural resources as they involve struggles over meaning, norms, knowledge, identity, authority and discourses.