Skip to main content

2014 | Buch

River Control in India

Spatial, Governmental and Subjective Dimensions

insite
SUCHEN

Über dieses Buch

Large river systems throughout the planet have been dramatically transformed due to river control projects such as large dams and embankments. Unlike other major human impacts like anthropogenic climate change, the alteration of river systems has been deliberate and planned by a small, powerful set of experts. Taking India as a case study, this book examines the way experts transform the planet through their discourse by their advocacy of river projects. This book identifies the spatial aspects of the norms through which the ideal river and the deficient river in need of control are produced. The role of governmental rationality in explaining the seemingly irrational and counter-productive effects of large projects like Kosi river embankments is considered. Finally using autobiographical material, the subjectivity of expert advice is examined, questioning its presumed objectivity. By examining the different subjective stances arising from the same body of expertise, this book discusses the consequences this has for river control specifically and for the relation between expertise and environmental change in general.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
This chapter introduces the topic of river control in India and defines the research focus. It discusses the theoretical framework used in this work, which is developed using poststructural political ecology inspired by the work of Michel Foucault. The methods of discourse analysis and biographical research used to analyse the genealogy, governmentality and subjectivity of expert discourse on river control are briefly introduced.
Ravi Baghel
Chapter 2. Analytical Approaches to River Control
Abstract
This chapter discusses in detail the analytical framework used in this work. A discussion of the World Commission on Dams process and response is used to identify the gaps in existing approaches. This is put into context using the Bhakra project as a case study. The combination of political ecology approaches and Foucauldian discourse analysis is proposed for an examination of discursive and political functions of river control, with a special focus on the role of expert knowledge.
Ravi Baghel
Chapter 3. Genealogy of the Hydraulic Mission
Abstract
Using a genealogical method developed in the work of Michel Foucault, the idea of rivers seen as “water flowing waste to the sea” is examined due to its close connection with river control. A spatial and historical genealogy of the normative ideals for rivers is used to centre the non-obvious motivations for river control. The spatial elements contained within the idea of the “normal” river are often at odds with the environment to which they are now transplanted.
Ravi Baghel
Chapter 4. Governmentality of River Embankment
Abstract
Flood control embankments on the Kosi river in Bihar, India, are taken up as an example of governmental rationality inherent in the project of river control. The material outcomes of the application of normative ideals and expert discourses to this specific river are examined using government documents and field research. The promise of flood control is seen to have mostly been a failure which has put a large population at a higher risk of flooding, with negative socio-economic outcomes for the entire region. The pursuit of this flawed strategy of flood control in spite of its failure is identified to be an outcome of governmental rationality.
Ravi Baghel
Chapter 5. Subjectivity in Expert Advocacy
Abstract
Expert knowledge derives its credibility from a belief in its objectivity. However, this chapter questions this premise using autobiographical data on six experts who have been prominent in their public participation in the debate on river control. The stark differences in their positions in spite of their expertise originating from a similar body of knowledge is examined in the light of their subjectivity. The importance of their public positions on large dams and flood control to their own identity as well as the influence of their personal experiences upon their ostensibly “objective” expertise is identified.
Ravi Baghel
Chapter 6. Conclusion
Abstract
This chapter concludes the discussion of river control and expert knowledge by summarising the arguments made within this work. The implications and contributions of this work are discussed with a special focus on the areas of South Asian governmentality and the use of Foucauldian methods of genealogy and discourse analysis. The spatial aspects of discourse and its material effects are proposed as important avenues for further study. The use of biographical research as adding to the use of mixed methods at multiple scales is also suggested. Finally, the future outlook is examined using emerging international perspectives in the discourse on river control.
Ravi Baghel
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
River Control in India
verfasst von
Ravi Baghel
Copyright-Jahr
2014
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-04432-3
Print ISBN
978-3-319-04431-6
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04432-3