Water, land and politics in the Raqqa province. A contemporary case study

Abstract

This article, based on intermittent anthropological fieldwork between 1978 and 2001, focuses on a Syrian waterscape through the establishment, expansion and contraction of the country’s largest irrigation and land reclamation project in the Euphrates valley. It briefly describes regional agricultural history before discussing the different positions of three regional categories — employees in the project, Raqqa townspeople and inhabitants in a village — in this waterscape. The irrigation project was undoubtedly set in motion to increase the influence of the state and the ruling party. But, as discussed, this process has not been at all straightforward. The article points to the importance of studying water, land and politics, not only from above, on the part of the state, but also from below on the part of regional inhabitants.