"They cannot come and impose on us" Indigenous autonomy and resource control through collective water management in highland Ecuador

Armijos, Maria Teresa (2013) "They cannot come and impose on us" Indigenous autonomy and resource control through collective water management in highland Ecuador. Radical History Review, 2013 (116). pp. 86-103. ISSN 0163-6545

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Abstract

This article examines the way that indigenous communities in rural areas of highland Ecuador have been able to contest and take advantage of changes in state policies on water resource management. Using archival material, it shows how elite views of indigenous peoples as backward and dirty, developed during the early twentieth century, influenced policies to improve health and sanitation in the Andean region. This review shows that in the effort to expand services to rural areas, the state, perhaps unintentionally, introduced a set of local and autonomous institutions, Drinking Water User Associations, to manage potable water systems at the communal level. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Otavalo, Ecuador, the article argues that today highland communities use these same institutional arrangements of water management to exert autonomy over their resources and territories.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 6 - clean water and sanitation ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/clean_water_and_sanitation
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Global Environmental Justice University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Area Studies
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	15 May 2014 12:54
Last Modified:	28 Mar 2025 05:55
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/48467
DOI:	10.1215/01636545-1965702

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