Book 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. |
Editorial Review | Like finding an oasis after crossing the desert, Barnes provides a welcome sight onto the lived experience at the local scale, after travelling through a dryness in recent literature characterized by abstract typologies and global discourse. Weaving together expertise in anthropology and geography, this ethnographic study of water management in Egypt remains timely and insightful several years after its publication. -- Bruce Currie-Alder * Water International * "Cultivating the Nile is a stand out text in many respects, as it is a much needed addition to the field of critical environmental studies and political ecologies of the Middle East and North Africa. . . . One is left with a sense of how well Barnes' study was designed, how well her contribution has been crafted, and a sense of anticipation of what the volume will generate in terms of future work on these themes in the years to come." -- Leila M. Harris |