Andean Waterways


Book Description

Andean Waterways explores the politics of natural resource use in the Peruvian Andes in the context of climate change and neoliberal expansion. It does so through careful ethnographic analysis of the constitution of waterways, illustrating how water becomes entangled in a variety of political, social, and cultural concerns. Set in the highland town of Recuay in Ancash, the book traces the ways in which water affects political and ecological relations as glaciers recede. By looking at the shared waterways of four villages located in the foothills of Cordillera Blanca, it addresses pertinent questions concerning water governance and rural lives. This case study of water politics will be useful to anthropologists, resource managers, environmental policy makers, and other readers who are interested in the effects of environmental change on rural communities. Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voiLZkIWNU4




The Andean glacier and water atlas


Book Description

This Atlas illustrates the significant reduction in glacier mass happening throughout the Andean region. It quantifies the contribution of glaciers to drinking water supplies in cities and to agriculture, hydropower and industries. A reduction in glacier mass results in a long-term reduction in seasonal melt water - which is the mainstay of livelihoods for millions of people.




The Andean World


Book Description

This comprehensive reference offers an authoritative overview of Andean lifeways. It provides valuable historical context, and demonstrates the relevance of learning about the Andes in light of contemporary events and debates. The volume covers the ecology and pre-Columbian history of the region, and addresses key themes such as cosmology, aesthetics, gender and household relations, modes of economic production, exchange, and consumption, postcolonial legacies, identities, political organization and movements, and transnational interconnections. With over 40 essays by expert contributors that highlight the breadth and depth of Andean worlds, this is an essential resource for students and scholars alike.




Andean Meltdown


Book Description

"Using case studies from four field sites in the Peruvian highlands where the author has conducted long-term fieldwork, Andean Meltdown offers an ethnographic account of how Andean people make sense of and adapt to climate change. Karsten Paerregaard investigates how climate change prompts them to not only reorganize their daily activities, adjust their ritual traditions, and reshuffle their worldview, but also take action to protect and gain control over their water resources, the environment, and ultimately their lives. Examining the multiple ways climate change intersects with environmental, social, and political change in Peru, Paerregaard also explores how the state and other external actors influence Andean people's climate experience and perception and how new practices and imaginations emerge from rapid environmental change. The book's claim is that climate change and its impact on Andean society must be investigated within the broader context of current social, political, and cultural change in Peru"--




Storying Multipolar Climes of the Himalaya, Andes and Arctic


Book Description

This book initiates multipolar climate/clime studies of the world’s altitudinal and latitudinal highlands with terrestrial, experiential, and affective approaches. Framed in the environmental humanities, it is an interdisciplinary, comparative study of the mutually-embodied relations of climate, nature, culture, and place in the Himalaya, Andes, and Arctic. Innovation-driven, the book offers multipolar clime case studies through the contributors’ historical findings, ethnographic documentations, and diverse conceptualizations and applications of clime, an overlooked but returning notion of place embodied with climate history, pattern, and changes. The multipolar clime case studies in the book are geared toward deeper, lively explorations and demonstrations of the translatability, interchangeability, and complementarity between the notions of clime and climate. "Multipolar" or "multipolarity" in this book connotes not only the two polar regions and the tectonically shaped highlands of the earth but also diversely debated perspectives of climate studies in the broadest sense. Contributors across the twelve chapters come from diverse fields of social and natural sciences and humanities, and geographically specialize, respectively, in the Himalayan, Andean, and Arctic regions. The first comparative study of climate change in altitudinal and latitudinal highlands, this will be an important read for students, academics, and researchers in environmental humanities, anthropology, climate science, indigenous studies, and ecology.




Rivers of South America


Book Description

Rivers of South America examines the physical, chemical, and biological environment of South American Rivers, and the people living in their basins. The book explores the main river basins, with information on each river's history, physiography, clime, hydrology, biodiversity, ecological processes, environmental problems, management, and conservation. The book identifies conservation hotspots for riverine environments, and is enriched with a large number of maps, photos, graphs, and tables. This reference is important for aquatic ecologists, environmental authorities, local and national governments, academics, NGOs, and those interested in the preservation and management of flowing waters. - Presents boxed information in each chapter to provide clear and consistent highlights throughout - Provides a single source of information for South America's major rivers - Offers full-color photographs and topographical maps to demonstrate the beauty, major features, and uniqueness of each river system




Mapping Water in Dominica


Book Description

Open access edition: DOI 10.6069/ 9780295748733 Dominica, a place once described as “Nature’s Island,” was rich in biodiversity and seemingly abundant water, but in the eighteenth century a brief, failed attempt by colonial administrators to replace cultivation of varied plant species with sugarcane caused widespread ecological and social disruption. Illustrating how deeply intertwined plantation slavery was with the environmental devastation it caused, Mapping Water in Dominica situates the social lives of eighteenth-century enslaved laborers in the natural history of two Dominican enclaves. Mark Hauser draws on archaeological and archival history from Dominica to reconstruct the changing ways that enslaved people interacted with water and exposes crucial pieces of Dominica’s colonial history that have been omitted from official documents. The archaeological record—which preserves traces of slave households, waterways, boiling houses, mills, and vessels for storing water—reveals changes in political authority and in how social relations were mediated through the environment. Plantation monoculture, which depended on both slavery and an abundant supply of water, worked through the environment to create predicaments around scarcity, mobility, and belonging whose resolution was a matter of life and death. In following the vestiges of these struggles, this investigation documents a valuable example of an environmental challenge centered around insufficient water. Mapping Water in Dominica is available in an open access edition through the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot, thanks to the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Northwestern University Libraries.




Plant Hunters in the Andes


Book Description




Andean Hydrology


Book Description

This book describes the ecosystem of the Andean watersheds, covering the Californian valley, tropical Andes, and southern Andes. Case studies of the new methods and techniques used for hydrological research in the Andes are provided, and sustainability issues pertaining to Andean water resources are discussed in the context of climate change, social and economic issues, and public policy. Furthermore, the impact of economic development on the Andean ecosystem, specifically the effect on the water cycle and the water-energy-food nexus, are examined.




A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture


Book Description

Cutting-edge and insightful discussions of Latin American literature and culture In the newly revised second edition of A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture, Sara Castro-Klaren delivers an eclectic and revealing set of discussions on Latin American culture and literature by scholars at the cutting edge of their respective fields. The included essays—whether they're written from the perspective of historiography, affect theory, decolonial approaches, or human rights—introduce readers to topics like gaucho literature, postcolonial writing in the Andes, and baroque art while pointing to future work on the issues raised. This work engages with anthropology, history, individual memory, testimonio, and environmental studies. It also explores: A thorough introduction to topics of coloniality, including the mapping of the pre-Columbian Americas and colonial religiosity Comprehensive explorations of the emergence of national communities in New Imperial coordinates, including discussions of the Muisca and Mayan cultures Practical discussions of global and local perspectives in Latin American literature, including explorations of Latin American photography and cultural modalities and cross-cultural connections In-depth examinations of uncharted topics in Latin American literature and culture, including discussions of femicide and feminist performances and eco-perspectives Perfect for students in undergraduate and graduate courses tackling Latin American literature and culture topics, A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture, Second Edition will also earn a place in the libraries of members of the general public and PhD students interested in Latin American literature and culture.