Redefining Water Security through Social Reproduction: Lessons Learned from Rajasthan’s “Ocean...
-
Upload
steps-centre -
Category
Education
-
view
678 -
download
0
Transcript of Redefining Water Security through Social Reproduction: Lessons Learned from Rajasthan’s “Ocean...
Redefining Water Security through Social
Reproduction: Lessons Learned from Rajasthan’s
“Ocean of Sand.”Michael Mascarenhas, Ph.D.
Department of Science and Technology StudiesRensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Introduction Threats to water security from climate
uncertainty are a major social and ecological concern
This is of particular importance in a country like India where over half of the people are involved in farming,
and agricultural losses due to climate change are estimated to be as high as 30% by 2080.
Introduction Goals
1. Outline the extent to which local knowledge is utilized in adapting to new environmental conditions.
2. Examine the role of informal institutions in social reproduction.
3. Extend the analysis of traditional localized water schemes in re-building community sustainability.
Literature Review The literature stresses the importance of
informal and self-organizing institutions in the sustainable management of shared resources under climate uncertainty.
The role that informal institutions perform in adapting to contemporary ecological relations, namely global climate change, is quickly becoming one of the new classic questions in social theory.
Literature Review Informal and self-organizing groups are the
foundation upon which social reproduction can be built.
Social Reproduction continuance of activities that maintains an
individual’s, household’s or group’s social, mental, and environmental conditions. child care, education, and health care passing on of languages, knowledges, histories, and
cultural practices training of specific subsistent practices the maintenance of particular social norms and customs,
and the continuance of social networks the maintenance of particular environmental conditions
Methods Ethnography Ongoing study, which began in the
summer of 2009. Access to the Meo community was
arranged by the Sir Syed Trust Asif Zaidi, the Executive Director
The Meo community near the village of Bhiwadi
The village of Bhiwadi is located in Alwar
Woman’s self help group meets every Saturday morning to talk about personal
and community concerns
The Hydraulic Plan
Paal-making
Khadeen
Dhora or Toba
Rethinking the Ecologies of Development and
Gender Changed roles of women in the
community Women are also engaging in larger
“policy” decisions Women are addressing personal or family
concerns Part of a larger SHG movement in India
Rethinking the Ecologies of Development and
Gender “Before, community members were not
able to grow crops because of a lack of cultivation options. Now,” Zaidi continues, “water harvesting has made cultivation possible and now people stay on the farm instead of leaving for the city.”
Rethinking the Ecologies of Development and
Gender The contribution of this empirical study is
that it offers an alternative to dominate models of development where subsistent communities are seen as helpless, lacking the skills necessary to survive without Western knowledge and technologies.