A Future History of Water

Author:   Andrea Ballestero
Publisher:   Duke University Press
ISBN:  

9781478003595


Pages:   248
Publication Date:   21 June 2019
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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A Future History of Water


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Overview

Based on fieldwork among state officials, NGOs, politicians, and activists in Costa Rica and Brazil, A Future History of Water traces the unspectacular work necessary to make water access a human right and a human right something different from a commodity. Andrea Ballestero shows how these ephemeral distinctions are made through four technolegal devices-formula, index, list and pact. She argues that what is at stake in these devices is not the making of a distinct future but what counts as the future in the first place. A Future History of Water is an ethnographically rich and conceptually charged journey into ant-filled water meters, fantastical water taxonomies, promises captured on slips of paper, and statistical maneuvers that dissolve the human of human rights. Ultimately, Ballestero demonstrates what happens when instead of trying to fix its meaning, we make water's changing form the precondition of our analyses.

Full Product Details

Author:   Andrea Ballestero
Publisher:   Duke University Press
Imprint:   Duke University Press
Weight:   0.476kg
ISBN:  

9781478003595


ISBN 10:   1478003596
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   21 June 2019
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Preface  ix Acknowledgments  xv Introduction  1 1. Formula  36 2. Index  75 3. List  109 4. Pact  144 Conclusion  185 Notes  201 References  211 Index  225

Reviews

Dense and beautifully detailed, Ballestero's story shows how government bureaucrats and regulators moved beyond the declarative to the actual performance of the exacting work that a commitment to rights demands. In the process, the book unravels a set of seemingly uncharismatic devices, such as the consumer price index. Ballestero makes these technical tools appear as exuberant microcosms of technopolitical craftiness, unexpected historical depth, and ethical future-making. -- Andrea Muehlebach * Public Works * A Future History of Water is an important contribution to the literature on urban infrastructure, water policy and the urbanisation of the global south, as well as to environmental anthropology. The book reveals how widespread global water policy is; the policy of water pipes, the functioning of local policy and the unforeseen consequences of economic reforms.... Through a careful choice of devices, the author encourages the reader to think globally about the human right to water and shows how many factors, outside of laws and treaties, still contribute to supporting and shaping the recognition of water as a human right. -- Simona Zupanc * Anthropological Notebooks * Ballestero's elegant formulation allows for an anthropology of water not found elsewhere. It is an account attentive to both ethnographic detail and to the insight that anthropology can bring to larger debates over water's value, management, and meaning. A Future History of Water should be on shelves of water scholars interested in the intersections of politics, economics, and the material relations of water. It will make an excellent contribution to courses at undergraduate and graduate levels in anthropology and critical social sciences. -- Jeremy J. Schmidt * Anthropos * Throughout her ethnography, Ballestero emphasizes the messiness and oftentimes mundane work it takes to make access to water a human right within capitalist society.... A Future History of Water showcases how everyday technolegal devices perform the essential work of creating a future in which water is accessible to all. -- Kelsey Kim * Catalyst * [Ballestero's] insightful analysis convinces the reader that such apparently mundane technical devices are indeed wonderful in their capacities to compose the water worlds of the future. -- Veronica Strang * PoLAR * Through the brilliant selection of the devices to exhibit her ideas, the author invites readers to think deeply beyond courts or treaties establishing a human right to water and shows how many other factors also contribute to and shape this. -- Gayathri D Naik * LSE Review of Books *


Ballestero's elegant formulation allows for an anthropology of water not found elsewhere. It is an account attentive to both ethnographic detail and to the insight that anthropology can bring to larger debates over water's value, management, and meaning. A Future History of Water should be on shelves of water scholars interested in the intersections of politics, economics, and the material relations of water. It will make an excellent contribution to courses at undergraduate and graduate levels in anthropology and critical social sciences. -- Jeremy J. Schmidt * Anthropos * Throughout her ethnography, Ballestero emphasizes the messiness and oftentimes mundane work it takes to make access to water a human right within capitalist society.... A Future History of Water showcases how everyday technolegal devices perform the essential work of creating a future in which water is accessible to all. -- Kelsey Kim * Catalyst * [Ballestero's] insightful analysis convinces the reader that such apparently mundane technical devices are indeed wonderful in their capacities to compose the water worlds of the future. -- Veronica Strang * PoLAR * Through the brilliant selection of the devices to exhibit her ideas, the author invites readers to think deeply beyond courts or treaties establishing a human right to water and shows how many other factors also contribute to and shape this. -- Gayathri D Naik * LSE Review of Books *


[Ballestero's] insightful analysis convinces the reader that such apparently mundane technical devices are indeed wonderful in their capacities to compose the water worlds of the future. -- Veronica Strang * PoLAR * Through the brilliant selection of the devices to exhibit her ideas, the author invites readers to think deeply beyond courts or treaties establishing a human right to water and shows how many other factors also contribute to and shape this. -- Gayathri D Naik * LSE Review of Books *


Through the brilliant selection of the devices to exhibit her ideas, the author invites readers to think deeply beyond courts or treaties establishing a human right to water and shows how many other factors also contribute to and shape this. -- Gayathri D Naik * LSE Review of Books *


Author Information

Andrea Ballestero is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Rice University and Director of The Ethnography Studio.

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