Waters in the Plural: Approaches and opportunities for more grounded research and management

Abstract

This article responds to calls for more grounded, territorialized water research by highlighting approaches to studying waters in the plural. In recent years, researchers have shown a growing interest in the the plurality of water cultures and the heterogeneity of waters. This interest may be set against approaches that reflect a singular notion of water which has dominated modern water research and water management. This singular notion of water, and the research and management practices based upon it, renders all waters essentially the same regardless of the historical/social/geographical circumstances in which they occur. The article briefly traces the development of this modern idea of water as well as the circumstances that have given rise to growing interest in the study of multiple waters. We discuss two distinct ways of understanding what is meant when referring to waters in the plural by distinguishing between cultural relativity – which hinges on differing perceptions or interpretations of the underlying reality of water – and ontological pluralism, whereby the essence of water itself differs in relation to the circumstances in which it occurs. The article considers examples of water research in the social sciences and humanities over the past 20 years that have drawn attention to both these ways of understanding multiple waters and discusses some of the opportunities for more grounded research associated with these developments.