Cultivating the Nile: The Everyday Politics of Water in Egypt

Description

The waters of the Nile are fundamental to life in Egypt. In this compelling ethnography, Jessica Barnes explores the everyday politics of water: a politics anchored in the mundane yet vital acts of blocking, releasing, channeling, and diverting water. She examines the quotidian practices of farmers, government engineers, and international donors as they interact with the waters of the Nile flowing into and through Egypt. Situating these local practices in relation to broader processes that affect Nile waters, Barnes moves back and forth from farmer to government ministry, from irrigation canal to international water conference. By showing how the waters of the Nile are constantly made and remade as a resource by people in and outside Egypt, she demonstrates the range of political dynamics, social relations, and technological interventions that must be incorporated into understandings of water and its management. Contents ......Page 6 Note on Transliteration, Units, and Abbreviations......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 16 Chapter 1. The End of a River......Page 20 Chapter 2. The Nile’s Nadir: The Production of Scarcity......Page 54 Chapter 3. Fluid Governance: Water User Associations and Practices of Participation......Page 91 Chapter 4. Irrigating the Desert, Deserting the Irrigated: Land Reclamation at the Margins......Page 125 Chapter 5. Flows of Drainage: The Politics of Excess......Page 156 Chapter 6. Making Egypt’s Water......Page 188 Notes......Page 198 References......Page 218 Index......Page 242