Contested Knowledges: Water Conflicts on Large Dams and Mega-Hydraulic DevelopmentEsha Shah, Rutgerd Boelens, Bert Bruins Water acquisition, storage, allocation and distribution are intensely contested in our society, whether, for instance, such issues pertain to a conflict between upstream and downstream farmers located on a small stream or to a large dam located on the border of two nations. Water conflicts are mostly studied as disputes around access to water resources or the formulation of water laws and governance rules. However, explicitly or not, water conflicts nearly always also involve disputes among different philosophical views. The contributions to this edited volume have looked at the politics of contested knowledge as manifested in the conceptualisation, design, development, implementation and governance of large dams and mega-hydraulic infrastructure projects in various parts of the world. The special issue has explored the following core questions: Which philosophies and claims on mega-hydraulic projects are encountered, and how are they shaped, validated, negotiated and contested in concrete contexts? Whose knowledge counts and whose knowledge is downplayed in water development conflict situations, and how have different epistemic communities and cultural-political identities shaped practices of design, planning and construction of dams and mega-hydraulic projects? The contributions have also scrutinised how these epistemic communities interactively shape norms, rules, beliefs and values about water problems and solutions, including notions of justice, citizenship and progress that are subsequently to become embedded in material artefacts. |
Common terms and phrases
accessed actors alternative anti-dam argue Available online Baba BC Hydro Bhutia Boelens Bolivia British Columbia Chixoy claims climate change Cochabamba communities compensation conflict Contested Knowledges CrossRef cultural dam construction dam development dam projects dam’s decision-making discourses ecological economic Ecuador effects energy engineering Environ environmental assessment Environmental Impact epistemological expert GHG emissions government’s Guadalhorce Guatemala hiding hand Himalayan Hirschman hydraulic hydroelectric hydropower development hydropower projects hydrosocial territories identity ignorance India indigenous infrastructure Inga dams institutions interview data irrigation issues knowledge regimes Lachung Lachung and Lachen Lachungpas and Lachenpas land Laos large dams Lepchas livelihoods Málaga megaproject Misicuni Misicuni Company Misicuni project mobilization modernist modernity NGOs North Sikkim Patricia Pilar Pipon planning political political ecology production region resettlement Río Río Grande risk San Lorenzo Sikkim social society strategic struggle studies sustainable water governance World Bank Xayaburi