Apologies for cross-postings

Call for Papers 
Association of American Geographers
2008 Annual Meeting, April 15-19th
Boston, MA

 
Water and Development: A Fluid Relationship?


Organizers: Farhana Sultana (King’s College London) and Jessica Budds (The 
Open University)
 

Sponsored by Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group and Water 
Resources Specialty Group
 

The relationship between water and development is at the top of the 
agenda, in both academic and policy circles.  Much attention has been 
given to the ability of water to foster development, largely through the 
need to extend access to water – above all drinking water – to poorer 
groups in low-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  At the 
same time, hazards research has focused on the power of water-related 
disasters, such as droughts and floods, to reduce the (potential) benefits 
of development to improve lives and livelihoods.  These two elements 
converge in the idea that we are in the midst of a ‘global water crisis’. 
 

Policy research and interventions have mostly focused on the need to 
improve the water situation of low-income groups by increasing access to 
water through piped systems, and undertaking more effective water 
resources management.  These objectives are reflected in the Millennium 
Development Goals and Integrated Water Resources Management.  While they 
are also increasingly inflected by market-oriented (or ‘neoliberal’) 
approaches, they continue to acknowledge the need for stakeholder and 
citizen participation.  Such interventions, however, tend to be largely 
technocratic in nature, and often fail to interrogate the (problematic) 
notions of ‘water’ and ‘development’ that they are based upon.


Recent work, by human geographers in particular, has reconfigured the 
relationship between water and society, whereby social power is embedded 
within flows of water, rather than external to them.  Such developments 
have allowed scholars to use water as a ‘lens’ through which to explore 
changing social relations (inequalities, discourses) and physical space 
(landscapes, infrastructure).  These perspectives have given us a fresh 
insight into the particular processes through which water has produced, 
coproduced and reproduced political ecologies in particular places.  At 
the same time, post-development debates have centered on the idea that 
development may actually be counter-productive to the ends that it seeks 
to achieve, which, themselves, are often guided by ‘Western’ notions of 
modernity.  

Drawing on these debates, we invite papers that explore and discuss the 
multi-faceted relationship between water and development in different 
contexts.  In particular, we wish to consider what these new insights can 
bring to bear on the multiple and contradictory roles that water plays in 
development, in terms of the power relations embedded within it, the 
meanings and discourses that are produced and mobilized, the styles of 
governance that are adopted, and the material outcomes of development 
interventions.  Paper can address, but are not limited to, the following:

·         How have notions of a global water crisis influenced water 
politics and development initiatives?

·         What role has water’s symbolic dimensions played in challenging 
and/or reconfiguring development schemes, such as privatization? 

·         How have development initiatives around water (e.g. introduction 
of new technologies) transformed social relations (e.g. class, gender, 
race, ethnicity) in low-income contexts?

·         How are processes and discourses of neoliberalization 
influencing relations between donors, NGOs and clients in water resources 
management in the global South?

·         How have water rights schemes been negotiated and implemented, 
and how have these changed social relations and control over water on the 
ground?

·         How do Integrated Water Resources Management schemes (and the 
like) reconfigure socio-political relations within river basins? 

·         How does the materiality of water disrupt narratives of 
developmental success, and what does it mean for understanding the socio-
ecological role of water in development?

·         How can we further our understanding of the political ecologies 
of water-related natural disasters?

·         What are the politics of community water schemes, and to what 
extent can they challenge top-down interventions, as well as contribute 
towards the water needs of low-income groups?

 
Please send in a title and brief abstract (max. 200 words) to Dr. Farhana 
Sultana ([log in to unmask]) before Oct. 15th, 2007. 

Please note that no financial assistance is available for this event. 
Details of the Conference can be found at www.aag.org. 

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Dr. Farhana Sultana
Department of Geography
King's College London
The Strand
London WC2R 2LS
U.K.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 1372
Fax: +44 (0)20 7848 2287
Email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/geography/people/acad/sultana/
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