Life, War, Earth

Are you Wittfogel or against him? Geophilosophy, hydro-sociality, and the state

“…The ''morphogenesi s'' of so-called Oriental Despotis m, pace Wittfogel, does not move in a single direction through water control (Protevi, 2007 : 13), not even in Pharaonic Egypt (Butzer, 1976). Rather, there is a basic paradox at the heart of centraliz ed irrigation politics: it always requires decentered or ecologically ''embedd ed'' (Protevi, 2007 ) mechanism s of control that the state can never fully dominate or overcode. Butzer (1976) and Lansing (1987Lansing ( , 2006 have both taken up this point, and it is here where Protevi (2007) locates a connection to geophilosophy .…”

“…Rather, there is a basic paradox at the heart of centraliz ed irrigation politics: it always requires decentered or ecologically ''embedd ed'' (Protevi, 2007 ) mechanism s of control that the state can never fully dominate or overcode. Butzer (1976) and Lansing (1987Lansing ( , 2006 have both taken up this point, and it is here where Protevi (2007) locates a connection to geophilosophy . Within his formulat ion, the dissonance between official epistemology and hydrosoci al ontology, between the government planner's desk and the irrigation landscape, is perhaps rendered a little more tenable .…”

“…To achieve their goals, so the argument goes, largescale hydraulic bureaucraci es simultaneously appropriate and de-territorial ize lower-level organizational forms ''aligned more fluidly with the earth's flows and forces'' (Chisholm, 2007: 8). They are an ''apparatus of capture'' that does more than just devise and superimpose a will and structure of domination (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987;Protevi, 2007 ). Hydraulic governance also works to appropriate already rooted organizati onal forms, assemblages that may require heavy investme nts in capital, personnel, and even war materiel to control, as I discuss below.…”

“…And they have inspired others to whose work I also turn here (see especially Bonta and Protevi, 2004;Protevi, 2007). The paper draws from this material to accomplish four basic objectives: First, it makes the case that bio-phys ical metaphorse.g.…”

“…Fourth, the paper applies some of these insights in the form of a case study on the geohistory of irrigation and ethnic politics in the Mayo Valley Irrigation District, in Northwest Mexico. Since the 1990s, Mexico has aggressivel y pursued a policy of ''decentral ized'' irrigation managemen t. But however much water governance became a centralized affair, it always depended on the capture and control of unstable hydraulic assemblages; that is, it relied upon mechanis ms that were ''ecologically embedded'' (Protevi, 2007 ), situated close to the earth, never too far from the places and people where water was applied. Floodplain irrigation, Butzer argues, is not a ''uniquely productive and predictable '' ecosystem (1996: 275).…”