Uses and disputes surrounding water in Latin America

Water issues are central to the environmental agenda of States and international organizations, linked to Climate Change issues, Disaster Risk Management, and constitute a Sustainable Development Goal according to the United Nations for the 2030 Agenda.

The critical analysis of water as an object of knowledge reveals that, beyond the dominant view imparted by modern science - water as a chemical abstraction that circulates within a dynamic and balanced model - it is experienced as a concrete anthropological experience with multiple manifestations and forms: ice, snow, seas, waves, rain, rivers, floods, swamps, springs, aquifers, dew, vapor, etc.; which are perceived, felt and/or represented by social actors in very diverse ways.

Reconstructing the conflict of interest surrounding access to and distribution of water is a key issue in water governance, where power relations shape specific territories. In these conflicts, the meaning and value assigned to water by its users reflects various cleavages such as social class, gender, and ethnicity, as well as the specific configurations of urban and rural areas, and implies different production logics. This fundamentally affects the practices developed around water resources, leading to the creation of political, legal, and economic systems to resolve and settle these conflicts.

Sociology, anthropology, and social geography have much to contribute to understanding this issue and the role of water in the creation of value—not only economic but also moral—which is constantly evolving. In this social dynamic, water also serves as a means of transport and a substance to be transported, transforming into a variety of goods and commodities. Therefore, water can be used to examine specific local-global relationships.

Objective

• Reflecting on the characteristics of water as an object of socio-anthropological knowledge and its social construction through the approach of different lines of work that promote a critical approach and analyzing a diversity of case studies oriented to the Latin American reality.

Specific objectives

• To present a general map of the main socio-environmental problems related to water from the perspective of the Social Sciences.
• To study the contribution of critical social sciences to the understanding of these problems.
• To promote a regional perspective based on the analysis of diverse case studies, with an emphasis on current Latin American contexts.
• To provide students with theoretical and methodological tools to reflect on water issues, promoting a critical perspective on them.
• To practice critical analysis and the theoretical and methodological application of water-related problems in student research cases.

• The contributions of social anthropology and critical geography to water issues
• Water as a “total social fact”, material and cultural, political and bio-political
• Water as a cultural object and “good for thinking”
• Contemporary theoretical approaches: Modern water: hydrosocial cycle and hydroelectrics; Actor-Network Theory and the agency capacity of water
• The perspective of Political Ecology and Water Justice
• The Global Water Crisis and the paradigm of Integrated Water Resources Management
• Water and agriculture: irrigation, political centralization, and social organization
• Water as a common resource
• Water and cities: The provision of and access to drinking water
• Urban environmental conflicts: pollution and flooding
• Symbolic and knowledge systems related to water
• Water commodification
• Social movements and the struggle for the right to water

• Boelens, R. (2009). Diverse waters. Water rights and legal plurality in Andean communities. Yearbook of American Studies, 66(2), 23-55.
• Budds, J. (2011). Social relations of power and the production of water landscapes. In: R. Boelens, L. Cremers, & M. Zwarteveen (Eds.), Water Justice: Accumulation, Conflict, and Social Action (Vol. 15, pp. 59-70). Lima: IEP - Fondo Editorial PUC. - Budds, J. (2012). The demand, evaluation, and allocation of water in the context of scarcity: An analysis of the hydrosocial cycle of the La Ligua River valley, Chile. Revista de Geografía Norte Grande, 52, 167-184. - López, E.I. (2012). Water Justice: An introductory conceptual systematization. In E. Isch López, R. Boelens, & F. Peña (Eds.), Water, Injustice, and Conflicts (pp. 21-43). Lima: Water Justice, CBC, Fondo Editorial PUCP, IEP
• Budds, J. (2012). Water demand, evaluation and allocation in the context of scarcity: an analysis of the hydrosocial cycle of the La Ligua river valley, Chile. Revista de Geografía Norte Grande, 52, 167-184.
• Casabona, VI (2004). Water: a resource of power in a peripheral neighborhood. In M. Boivin, A. Rosato, & V. Arribas (Eds.), Builders of otherness (pp. 105-109): Editorial Antropofagia.
• Casciarri and Van Aken (2017) Anthropology and water(s). Global issues, local waters and cultural flow. Journal des Anthropologues, 2013
• Cirelli, C., & Melville, R. (2002). The water crisis. Its ecological, cultural and political dimensions. Memoria, 134, 26-30.
• Dourojeanni, A., & Jouravlev, A. (2001). “The dilemmas facing water management at the beginning of the millennium in Latin America and the Caribbean” In: Crisis of governance in water management. Santiago de Chile: ECLAC.
• Galindo, CS (2006). A failed privatization of water in Bolivia: the state, corruption and the neoliberal effect. Colombian Journal of Anthropology, 42, 317-346.
• González, S. (2009) “Floods, recent territorial transformations and planning in the Palermo neighborhood (City of Buenos Aires, Argentina)” Proceedings of the 12th Meeting of Geographers of Latin America (EGAL).
• Merlinsky, G., & Tobías, M. (2021). Water conflicts in the Matanza-Riachuelo and Reconquista river basins. Keys to thinking about water justice at a metropolitan scale. Punto Sur, (5). 
• Natenzon, CE and González, S. G (2013). “Water as a social problem”, Puente@ Europa 10 (2), 53-58
• Neiburg, F., & Nicaise, N. (2009). Social life gives water. Rio de Janeiro: Long live Rio.
• Oré, MT, and Rap, E. (2009). Neoliberal water policies in Peru. Background and behind the scenes of the Water Resources Law. Debates in Sociology, 34, 32-66.
• Ostrom, E. (1995) Complex designs for complex management. SH and M. Munasinghe (eds.) Property Rights and the Environment. Social and Ecological Issues. The Beijer International Institute and The World Bank. Washington, USA. Translation by H. Bonfil Sánchez published in Gaceta Ecológica 54, (2000).
• Palerm J. (2003) Irrigation and the origin of the State: the investigation of Mexican cases of self-managed administration of hydraulic systems. In Patricia Avila (ed) Water, environment and development in Mexico vol. II, Colegio de Michoacán. ISBN: 970-679-101-9. (pp. 321-334)
• Riera, C. (2017) “Irrigation technology and the dispute over groundwater in Córdoba, Argentina”, Caderno de Geografía, V. 27, n. 48.
• Riera, C. (2020) “Irrigated land” and the commodification of water in a new water landscape of Pampas agriculture: the case of the seed cluster” Revista Salud Colectiva 16
• Riera, C. (2022) “Water, agriculture and anthropology: The social organization of irrigation systems and their study in Argentina” AREAS. International Journal of Social Sciences, Murcia, Spain (In Press.)
• Santos, C. (2010). Water in Uruguay: social struggle and the emergence of new schemes of politicization. Theomai, 22.
• Skewes, J.C., Solari, M. a. E., Guerra, D., & Jalabert, D. (2012). Water landscapes: Nature and identity in the Valdivia river basin. Chungara: Revista de Antropología Chilena, 44(2), 299-312.
• Svampa, Maristella. "Commodity Consensus, Ecoterritorial Turn and Critical Thinking in Latin America." osal13.32 (2012): 15-38.
• Trottier, J. (2008). Water crises: political construction or physical reality? Contemporary Politics, 14(2), 197-214.
• Ullberg Baez, S. (2016). Watermarks. An anthropological analysis of urban flooding and social memory in the city of Santa Fe. In M.-T. Gustafsson & F. Uggla (Eds.), Swedish social thought on Latin America (pp. 267-296). Buenos Aires: CLACSO.

The basic requirements for taking a seminar are:

• Availability of at least 4 hours per week to dedicate to the seminar course.
• Internet access.
• Reasonable handling of communication and computer tools.
• Language proficiency in the language in which the course will be taught. The official languages ​​are Spanish and Portuguese.

The seminars last 12 weeks, plus the completion of a final project. A total of 90 hours of dedication will be credited.

A course consists of twelve classes, each accompanied by required reading bibliography, supplementary bibliography, discussion forums and training activities proposed by the teaching team, partial deliveries and a final project.
The course is online and asynchronous. Some instructors may propose synchronous activities. In those cases, the time and date will be agreed upon beforehand between the teaching team and the students to ensure everyone's participation.
To pass the seminar, you must participate in at least 80% of the discussion forums and activities proposed by the teachers, have completed the scheduled partial deliveries, and pass the final work.

The possible payment methods are credit card, bank transfer and bank deposit.