Sustainability and the politics of calculation: technologies of 'safe water,' subject-making, and domination

Laura Eichelberger

doi:10.2458/v19i1.21722

Abstract

This paper critically examines sustainability as an ideology that gives meaning to processes of domination occurring through the operations of treated water systems in Iñupiaq villages in Alaska's Northwest. The implementation of neoliberal sustainability policies shapes social relations around water, establishes particular forms of 'expert' knowledge, erases experiences of water insecurity, and renders moot local opposition to charging for water. Throughout, treated 'safe water' is signified as a scarce commodity; its production requiring full cost recovery through practices of calculation that discipline Iñupiaq citizens as consumers. This paper provides a case study for understanding some of the processes of domination through which the commodification of water occurs, and how local people who otherwise oppose these processes may nonetheless become drawn into practices of calculation and domination in an attempt to meet state-defined sustainability requirements.Key words: Sustainability, water insecurity, domination, Alaska Natives

Highlights

Water insecurity is defined as long-term conditions of inadequate supply that lead to the reduction of water consumption necessary for healthy environments and community health (Whiteford and Whiteford 2005)
As the public health nurse's comment so clearly articulated, the logic underlying the policies of "sustainability" pursued in Alaska can be reduced to the question of who should be thrown off the ship, left behind to sink or swim? In this paper, I focus on the history of this idea in the context of water security in rural Alaska Native communities, and how local residents come to participate in these practices and discourse of domination
This paper has examined "sustainability" as an ideology of domination as it functions through the practices and subjectivities involved in the operations of water and sanitation infrastructures in Iñupiaq villages

Summary

Introduction

Water insecurity is defined as long-term conditions of inadequate supply that lead to the reduction of water consumption necessary for healthy environments and community health (Whiteford and Whiteford 2005). In the past three decades, studies have focused on identifying environmental and economic factors that hinder access to water and sewer services These include high water tables, permafrost, seasonal flooding, the remoteness of villages, small populations that increase per household costs, limited cash economies, and poverty (Huskey 1992; EPA 1995; Berardi 1998b; Berardi 1999). The term "capital projects" refers broadly to community development projects, including construction that would provide much-needed water and sanitation services to water-insecure communities This threat of the State of Alaska terminating funding for capital projects was a tangible one for Qimmiurat, one of many villages across the State that lacked a running water and wastewater system. As the public health nurse's comment so clearly articulated, the logic underlying the policies of "sustainability" pursued in Alaska can be reduced to the question of who should be thrown off the ship, left behind to sink or swim? In this paper, I focus on the history of this idea in the context of water security in rural Alaska Native communities, and how local residents come to participate in these practices and discourse of domination

Water and energy insecurity in Qimmiurat

Water insecurity within the politics of dependency and sustainability

Calculation and subject-making within the politics of sustainability

Findings

Conclusion