Water, Culture, and Society in Global Historical Perspective II
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Date
2017-06-24
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security Studies
Abstract
"Water" constitutes a multi-faceted topic of overwhelming historical and contemporary significance. Water defines every aspect of life: from the ecological to the cultural, religious, social, economic, and political. Without the molecule H20, life as we understand it would cease to exist. Water remains at the center of human activity: in irrigation and agriculture; waste and sanitation; drinking and disease; floods and droughts; religious beliefs and practices; fishing and aquaculture; travel and discovery; scientific study; water pollution and conservation; multi-purpose dam building; in the setting of boundaries and borders; politics and economic life; and wars and diplomacy. Water also plays an important symbolic role in works of literature, art, music, and architecture, and it serves as a source of human beauty and spiritual tranquility.
Description
This conference is the second of two, linked international conferences focused on the provision, management, use, and cultural meanings of water and its relationship to patterns of human culture, politics, technology, and socio-economic organization across geographies and chronologies. The conference will focus on two distinct themes: "Cultures of Water" and "The Effluent Society." The first conference will took place in mid-May 2016 and focused on the intersecting topics of Water and Power" and "Controlling Water." Through these four themes our program spans a broad range of vital and interconnected topics posed by "water." The conferences, held at the Mershon Center at the Ohio State University, will be run as workshops with papers distributed in advance to ensure the most productive discussions. Papers will be published either in edited volumes or special issues of environmental history journals.
Keywords
water security, politics, water, culture, society