Abstract
Since its initial proposal in the 1990s, ‘green criminology’ has focused on environmental crimes and harms affecting non-human and human life, ecosystems, and the planet as a whole. Describing global trends toward privatization of water supply systems and the criminalization of several water conservation activities and tactics, this paper employs theoretical perspectives offered by green, cultural, and critical criminologies, focusing on overt resistance to water privatization and oppressive regulations governing rainwater storage and residential water recycling. Taking a critical theoretical perspective, this paper examines water access and autonomy, individuals and groups openly resisting the criminalization of household water reuse and storage, and the cultural significance of water. This paper concludes with an exploration of the potential benefits of a green cultural criminology.
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Notes
A concern in constructing this work is over the spelling of “greywater.” As will become clear from the literature, there are many ways to “correctly” spell greywater, but no decidedly correct single spelling exists. Indeed, many of the instructional manuals and materials consulted note explicitly that there are many options—greywater, grey water, graywater, and gray water each make an appearance. Because the “greywater” spelling seems to dominate the American literature most referenced here, it is the spelling I have used. It should be noted, though, that differences in spelling do not indicate a difference in method: the “gray water” systems of London are, essentially, no different than the “greywater” systems of Oakland.
Here, Shiva paints a picture of historic water management practices that is highly romanticized. While “sustainability and accessibility to all” may well have been among the goals of earlier management systems, it is unlikely that those systems “ensured” those outcomes.
While Garland’s assessment is useful when applied to the control of water, it is problematic in that it gives supremacy to the concept of “order” as constructed by the Global North. It should be noted, then, that Garland likely overreaches in his insistence that “desire for security, orderliness, and control, for the management of risk” is present in “any” culture.
In this paper, I use terminology that reflects the intention of the writers and actors to whom I make reference, while accounting—where possible—for some of the concerns raised by previous work. I rely, for example, on the use of the terms “human,” “animal,” and “animal other than human” in categorizing living things. There is reason, to be sure, for green criminologists to pay careful consideration to the language used in their work; speciesism is a real and valid concern, or should be, and as such it has real consequences. In the establishment of a green criminological discourse, efforts should be made in earnest to avoid the ‘othering’ of nonhuman animals (Beirne 2007, p. 62; Beirne 2009; Cazaux 2007). Because this work focuses primarily on human responses to water injustice, it is inherently reflective of an anthropocentric ecophilosophical perspective, rather than the more inclusive ecocentric and biocentric philosophical perspectives, and consequently it is written in the language of anthropocentrism. Similarly, throughout this work I have used language that may serve to separate humanity from broader dimensions and conceptualizations of nature. There is, however, a body of literature that rightly problematizes this tendency. My intention is not to reify problematic divides in human conceptualizations of nature, but rather to maintain a focus on human management of (and relationships with) water.
There are at least two distinct conceptualizations of the D.I.Y. ethic. Recently, the D.I.Y. moniker has been adopted by an ethic that employs D.I.Y. practices as primarily an economic tool rather than a form of political resistance. This depoliticized form of D.I.Y. is inherently capitalistic, and is made most visible by the emergence of the D.I.Y. Network, a cable channel dedicated to showing homeowners potential cheap fixes for household problems. The form of D.I.Y. that is discussed in this paper is a more overtly politicized form, an “ethic born in reaction against a dominant society that considers culture primarily in terms of a profit-generating, commercial enterprise” (Duncombe 2008).
As Marx (1932) described, the alienation from basic needs is a crucial step in the essential power of capital to accumulate and commoditize.
Harrington’s case is particularly interesting when considering the various ways that it highlights his relationships with and conceptualizations of water, state power, and property. Harrington clearly operates on something akin to a neoliberal and capitalist-libertarian logic, insisting that the water he has collected is “his” by virtue of its presence on “his” property, giving him justification for diverting water from the commons. For Harrington, the state has exercised its power to supersede his property rights, and so his indignation flows forth from that perceived slight. In contrast, water activists that reject the neoliberal libertarian logics that imbue Harrington’s resistance would likely reject his claims of ownership, insisting instead that he allow water to flow to—and from—the commons.
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Acknowledgments
I’d like to acknowledge, first and foremost, Avi Brisman. Without his support, insight, friendship, and guidance this paper would not have been possible. I’d also like to thank Judah Schept and Tyler Wall, who—along with the entire Justice Studies community at Eastern Kentucky University—have been instrumental in guiding this project. Thanks are also due to Dave Kauzlarich, Travis Linnemann, and the anonymous reviewers whose insights guided the final stages of this paper and made its publication possible. The European Social and Economic Research Council (ESRC) allowed me the opportunity to present an earlier draft of this work at the October, 2013 Seminar on Brown Crime: Hazardous Waste and Pollution, held at Northumbria University, and I would like to thank the attendees, presenters, and organizers of that event—particularly Tanya Wyatt and Nigel South—for their constructive and helpful input. This paper was awarded the second-place prize in the graduate student paper competition at the American Society of Criminology’s (ASC) Division on Critical Criminology (DCC) meeting in 2013, and I’d like to thank and acknowledge the entire DCC community, which has been an exceptional help and resource in these early stages of my academic career. Lastly, I’d like to thank Maria Bordt, whose patience, insight, support, and partnership have made completion of this project a more wonderful and rewarding experience.
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McClanahan, B. Green and Grey: Water Justice, Criminalization, and Resistance. Crit Crim 22, 403–418 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-014-9241-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-014-9241-8