- Library Home /
- Search Collections /
- Open Collections /
- Browse Collections /
- UBC Faculty Research and Publications /
- Multiple Ontologies of Water : politics, conflict and...
Open Collections
UBC Faculty Research and Publications
Multiple Ontologies of Water : politics, conflict and implications for governance Wilson, Nicole J.; Yates, Julian Sebastian; Harris, Leila
Abstract
We ask what it would mean to take seriously the possibility of multiple water ontologies, and what the implications of this would be for water governance in theory and practice. We contribute to a growing body of literature that is reformulating understanding of human– water relations and refocusing on the fundamental question of what water ‘is’. Interrogating the political–ontological ‘problem space’ of water governance, we explore a series of ontological disjunctures that persist. Rather than seeking to characterize any individual ontology, we focus on the limitations of silencing diverse ontologies, and on the potential of embracing ontological plurality in water governance. Exploring these ideas in relation to examples from the Canadian province of British Columbia, we develop the notion of ontological conjunctures, which is based on networked dialogue among multiple water ontologies and which points to forms of water governance that begin to embrace such a dialogue. We highlight water as siwlkw and the processual concept of En’owkin as examples of this approach, emphasizing the significance of cross-pollinating scholarship across debates on water and multiple ontologies.
Item Metadata
Title |
Multiple Ontologies of Water : politics, conflict and implications for governance
|
Creator | |
Contributor | |
Date Issued |
2015
|
Description |
We ask what it would mean to take seriously the possibility of multiple water ontologies, and what the implications of this would be for water governance in theory and practice. We contribute to a growing body of literature that is reformulating understanding of human– water relations and refocusing on the fundamental question of what water ‘is’. Interrogating the political–ontological ‘problem space’ of water governance, we explore a series of ontological disjunctures that persist. Rather than seeking to characterize any individual ontology, we focus on the limitations of silencing diverse ontologies, and on the potential of embracing ontological plurality in water governance. Exploring these ideas in relation to examples from the Canadian province of British Columbia, we develop the notion of ontological conjunctures, which is based on networked dialogue among multiple water ontologies and which points to forms of water governance that begin to embrace such a dialogue. We highlight water as siwlkw and the processual concept of En’owkin as examples of this approach, emphasizing the significance of cross-pollinating scholarship across debates on water and multiple ontologies.
|
Subject | |
Geographic Location | |
Genre | |
Type | |
Language |
eng
|
Date Available |
2017-05-23
|
Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
|
Rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
|
DOI |
10.14288/1.0347554
|
URI | |
Affiliation | |
Citation |
Yates, J., N. Wilson & L. Harris. (In press, 2017). Multiple Ontologies of Water: politics, conflict and implications for governance. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space.
|
Publisher DOI |
10.1177/0263775817700395
|
Peer Review Status |
Reviewed
|
Scholarly Level |
Faculty; Postdoctoral; Graduate
|
Copyright Holder |
SAGE Publishing
|
Rights URI | |
Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
|
Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International