Redefining Water Security through Social

Reproduction: Lessons Learned from Rajasthan’s

“Ocean of Sand.”Michael Mascarenhas, Ph.D.

Department of Science and Technology StudiesRensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Introduction Threats to water security from climate

uncertainty are a major social and ecological concern

This is of particular importance in a country like India where over half of the people are involved in farming,

and agricultural losses due to climate change are estimated to be as high as 30% by 2080.

Introduction Goals

1. Outline the extent to which local knowledge is utilized in adapting to new environmental conditions.

2. Examine the role of informal institutions in social reproduction.

3. Extend the analysis of traditional localized water schemes in re-building community sustainability.

Literature Review The literature stresses the importance of

informal and self-organizing institutions in the sustainable management of shared resources under climate uncertainty.

The role that informal institutions perform in adapting to contemporary ecological relations, namely global climate change, is quickly becoming one of the new classic questions in social theory.

Literature Review Informal and self-organizing groups are the

foundation upon which social reproduction can be built.

Social Reproduction continuance of activities that maintains an

individual’s, household’s or group’s social, mental, and environmental conditions. child care, education, and health care passing on of languages, knowledges, histories, and

cultural practices training of specific subsistent practices the maintenance of particular social norms and customs,

and the continuance of social networks the maintenance of particular environmental conditions

Methods Ethnography Ongoing study, which began in the

summer of 2009. Access to the Meo community was

arranged by the Sir Syed Trust Asif Zaidi, the Executive Director

The Meo community near the village of Bhiwadi

The village of Bhiwadi is located in Alwar

Woman’s self help group meets every Saturday morning to talk about personal

and community concerns

The Hydraulic Plan

Paal-making

Khadeen

Dhora or Toba

Rethinking the Ecologies of Development and

Gender Changed roles of women in the

community Women are also engaging in larger

“policy” decisions Women are addressing personal or family

concerns Part of a larger SHG movement in India

Rethinking the Ecologies of Development and

Gender “Before, community members were not

able to grow crops because of a lack of cultivation options. Now,” Zaidi continues, “water harvesting has made cultivation possible and now people stay on the farm instead of leaving for the city.”

Rethinking the Ecologies of Development and

Gender The contribution of this empirical study is

that it offers an alternative to dominate models of development where subsistent communities are seen as helpless, lacking the skills necessary to survive without Western knowledge and technologies.