|
Project properties |
|
| Title | Golf courses, local communities, and the political construction of water scarcity in Mendoza, Argentina |
| Group | Water Resources Management group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Prof. Rutgerd Boelens & Dr. Jeroen Vos |
| Examiner(s) | |
| Contact info | rutgerd.boelens@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2020/01/01 |
| End date | 2022/01/01 |
| Description | Host institute(s): CONICET, Mendoza
Host supervisor: Dr Robin Larsimont (Geographer, Environmental Justice researcher) Country: Argentina Period: open Problem context The world is experiencing a boom in golf courses and luxurious recreational parks in (semi)arid regions. Also in Mendoza, Argentina, governmental policies support large tourist enterprises that buy up land on a massive scale. Land occupation of this sort leads to competition for water with local communities, degrade local ecosystems, jeopardize local food security, and profoundly alter existing modes of production and income distribution. In most cases, therefore, land grabs are in fact water grabs, a process that dispossesses and displaces existing water users. But local peasant and indigenous communities, grassroots and citizens alliances are mobilizing, engage in protest and come with alternative proposals. Research Objective/Question How do golf courses development in Mendoza (Argentina) produce fundamental social and environmental (in particular, water scarcity) problems and compete with local communities? How do peasant and indigenous communities ally with NGOs and citizens groups to form multi-scalar alliances that defend their water rights? What is expected from the student Research with a grounded Political Ecology focus (preparation: course Political Ecology of Water / similar courses). Conceptual themes: extractivism, hydrosocial territories, power, politics, discourse analysis, governmentality, conflict analysis, identity politics; social mobilization |
| Used skills | |
| Requirements | course Political Ecology of Water / similar courses |