Friday 24 January 13:00-14:00
Theo Hughes-Morgan, University of Cambridge
Notes on the ownership of water in a Himalayan village
What does it mean, for a village to own its water supply? What happens to this question, when responsibility for the "village's" water is divided between - to name just a few - a village's people, its protector deities, the shamans who speak for those deities, the local electricity authority, and an internationally-funded NGO? And when the dust settles on these questions - what can the management of water teach us about social relations?
In this talk, I will present some preliminary ideas drawing on my PhD fieldwork in a "Tibetan" village in the Nyin valley, in the Himalayas of northwest Nepal. Examining local ideas about water and practices of water management, I will reflect on some of the ways in which infrastructure, practice and belief combine to underpin patterns in human activity - patterns which we then call "social life".
This seminar is recorded. Please email miasu-admin@socanth.cam.ac.uk to receive the link