Socio-Material Bricolage: (Co)Shaping of Irrigation Institutions and Infrastructures

Mirhanoğlu, Adnan; Özerol, Gül; Hoogesteger, Jaime; Broeck, Pieter Van den; Loopmans, Maarten

doi:10.5334/ijc.1188

Cited by 8 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is this mismatch which, to a large extent, explains and fuels the coexistence of divergent imaginaries. Moreover, it is also the germ of conflicts such as those analyzed in this case, or of dilemmas arising in other similar spaces (Llausàs et al, 2020;Mirhanoğlu et al, 2022;2023).…”

Section: Conclusion: Imaginaries and The Trans-formation Of The Commonsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Imaginaries and the Commons: Insights From Irrigation Modernization in Valencia, Spain

Hoogesteger¹,

Konijnenberg²,

Brackel³

et al. 2023

International Journal of the Commons

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article we introduce the notion of imaginaries as a conceptual entry to study and better understand how and why commons re-create and transform. We do so by first exploring imaginaries as assemblages, and second by analytically dividing imaginaries in dominant and alternative imaginaries. While the former refer to how people imagine and live their social existence around built expectations and their underlying notions, the latter refers to imaginaries that critique instituted society and through it create 'germs' that can lead to transformation. Through this lens we analyze contestations that have emerged around the introduction of drip irrigation in two irrigation communities in the Valencia Region of Spain. These two case studies (Carcaixent and Potries) show how, among the commons, alternative imaginaries are challenging the dominant imaginaries of drip irrigation. We show how these alternative imaginaries result from a different way of assembling irrigation and the social, cultural, material, and economic relations around it. These insights, we argue, open up avenues that allow us to better understand the imaginary creations that reproduce a specific existing order, as well as the germ(s) that can lead to transformations and change.

show abstract

Section: Conclusion: Imaginaries and The Trans-formation Of The Commonsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Imaginaries and the Commons: Insights From Irrigation Modernization in Valencia, Spain

Hoogesteger¹,

Konijnenberg²,

Brackel³

et al. 2023

International Journal of the Commons

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It relates to the creation of subjects and their ordering and self-understanding in socio-natural and techno-political environments (cf. [41,72,73]).…”

Section: Actor-oriented Approach and Imaginariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rooted Water Collectives in a Modernist and Neoliberal Imaginary: Threats and Perspectives for Rural Water Commons

Hofstetter,

Bolding,

Boelens

2023

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water schemes that rely on user (co-) ownership and collective action have been described in the irrigation sector for a long time. Still, interest in such forms of (co-) investment in the domestic/multiple use sector is more recent. To address the persisting issue of rural water service, (what has been coined) self-supply is proclaimed to be a (supposedly) low-cost, sustainable manner to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). User (co-) investments are to be promoted and realized through the creation of an enabling policy environment and development of, and training on, low-cost technologies through government and NGO support and private sector-steered access to such technologies. In this article, we apply the Rooted Water Collectives (RWC) framework to describe two such schemes, one in South Africa and one in Switzerland. The data collection followed an action research methodology, with the main author being involved in interventions in all three schemes. We show here that these collectives create positions of purpose within societies and that what motivates people is to help themselves and contribute to the greater good of the community. This article shows that interventions to foster and sustain such collective actions that follow a neoliberal/modernist imaginary negatively affect their viability since these collectives, through their other-than-capitalist interactions, form part of and depend on an alternative imaginary. We conclude that interventions aiming to strengthen forms of collective action can only succeed if they recognize contextuality, unequal power relationships, and grass-rooted forms of interdependence and collaboration, and actively build on and work toward such alternative, more convivial imaginaries.

show abstract

“…A convivial commons' analytical approach must allow for understanding how agents creatively manoeuvre within structural circumstances (e.g. Boelens and Gelles, 2005;Goldman et al, 2018;Mirhanoğlu et al, 2023). We therefore apply an actor-oriented approach as described by Long (2001).…”

Section: Conviviality and The Commonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conviviality Under Pressure of Market-Modernist Expertocracy: The Case of Water Commons in Rural Switzerland

Hofstetter,

Bolding,

Boelens

2023

International Journal of the Commons

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Citizens outside of the built-up zone in the Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland are selfresponsible to establish and maintain their water services. In response many independent, collective water schemes emerged in rural areas. We describe these schemes as commons, since citizens organize legal, institutional, and infrastructural aspects of water access in a collective manner. Since the late 19th century such commons serving farming households have been subsidized by the State. In this article, we develop a conviviality lens to analyze how water commons are being supported and regulated by public institutions. We show how the introduction of neoliberal policy reforms summarized under the term New Public Management (NPM) put pressure on this public support. By describing a specific project in detail, we demonstrate how the failure of a market-modernist expertocracy to recognize these commons as alternative forms of social organization negatively affects their viability. We argue that for the proliferation of these commons their complexity, networked autonomy, and rooted notions of belonging need to be recognised.

show abstract

Socio-Material Bricolage: (Co)Shaping of Irrigation Institutions and Infrastructures

Cited by 8 publications

References 42 publications

Imaginaries and the Commons: Insights From Irrigation Modernization in Valencia, Spain

Imaginaries and the Commons: Insights From Irrigation Modernization in Valencia, Spain

Rooted Water Collectives in a Modernist and Neoliberal Imaginary: Threats and Perspectives for Rural Water Commons

Conviviality Under Pressure of Market-Modernist Expertocracy: The Case of Water Commons in Rural Switzerland

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About