Anthropology of Water in Varzaneh, Iran

Abstract

Water quality/quantity crises may make water a hazard source. This study investigates the coded meaning that water crisis causes, how water insecurity impacts mental and physical health, and ways of dealing with water scarcity. However, this cultural meaning contradicts community-level governmental decisions and the unequal water distribution of Iran’s Zayanderud River. Consequently, there is a water crisis in the small city of Varzaneh, and it induces undesired individual-level feelings, such as local concerns that cancer is associated with the deterioration of the Gavkhouni Wetland into which the Zayanderud drains. At the household level, water shortage problems are causing population emigration and/or adoption of different jobs and cropping styles. On a larger scale, public protests are responses to the deteriorating natural environment. Generally, the region’s hierarchical and sectarian social organizing forms contradict. In Varzaneh, the sectarian form views environmental hazards as a higher priority. As a hierarchical form, the government emphasizes foreign enemies and defines the water problems in Varzaneh as not being a top priority. The outcome is social tension over water supply at both small and large scales.

Key Words:

• Agriculture
• Hierarchy
• Iran
• Social organization
• Water crisis
• Water management

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the participants in this study as they enabled this research journey by helping us to obtain new and deeper insights into the subject. Also, the authors are grateful to Mr. J., the key informant of the study, for selfless guidance and introductions to invaluable individuals. Furthermore, the authors express their gratitude to their families for their support in the ups and downs of this research project.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 I. Mohammad Jani & N. Yazdanian (2015) The Analysis of Water Crisis Conjecture in Iran and the Exigent Measures for its Management [in Persian], Ravand Journal, 21 (65–66), pp. 123–124.

2 K. Milton (1996) Environmentalism and Cultural Theory: Exploring the Role of Anthropology in Environmental Discourse (London: Routledge), p. 178.

3 V. Strang (2004) The Meaning of Water (New York: Berg).

4 Eslami, “Zayanderud: Past, Present and Future,” pp. 123–124.

5 J. Murchison (2009) Ethnography Essentials: Designing, Conducting and Presenting Your Research (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass), p. 4.

6 Ibid, p. 42.

7 For more on ethnographic research methods, see U. Flick (2009) An Introduction to Qualitative Research (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications), p. 169.

8 Ibid, pp. 118–119.

9 N. Hajian (2016) Comprehensive Reference of Zayanderud; Studying the Reasons Behind Dried Zayanderud from Technical Perspective and National and International Rights Views (Isfahan, Khorasgan Branch: Islamic Azad University), p. 38 [in Persian].

10 Wutich & Brewis. “Food, Water, and Scarcity,” p. 445.

11 Ibid, p. 446.

12 Orlove & Caton, “Water Sustainability,” pp. 401–415.

13 Orlove & Caton, “Water Sustainability,” p. 407.

14 Hajian, “Comprehensive Reference of Zayanderud,” pp. 153–156.

15 Kottak. “The New Ecological Anthropology,” p. 29.

16 K. Milton (1993) Environmentalism: The View from Anthropology (London and New York: Routledge), p. 4.

17 M. Douglas & A. Wildavsky (1982) Risk and Culture: An Essay on the Selection of Technological and Environmental Dangers (Berkeley: University of California Press), p. 16.

18 Ibid, p. 19.

19 Milton, “Environmentalism and Cultural Theory,” p. 90.

20 Douglas & Wildavsky, “Risk and Culture”.

21 Safinezhad, “Qanats in Iran,” p. 35.

22 W. Bijker (2012) Do We Live in Water Cultures? A Methodological Commentary. Social Studies of Science Journal, 42(4), p. 625.

23 Douglas & Wildavsky, “Risk and Culture,” p. 16.

24 Ibid, p. 180.

25 Ibid.

26 Milton, “Environmentalism and Cultural Theory,” pp. 149–150.

27 J. Safinezhad (2017) Qanats in Iran and Traditional Ways of Using Them [in Persian] (Tehran: Pooy-e Mehr Publications).

28 M. Farhadi (1994) The Tradition of Co-operation in Iran: Introduction to the Anthropology and Sociology of Co-operation [in Persian] (Tehran: Iran University Press).

29 V. Strang (2005) Common Senses: Water, Sensory Experience and the Generation of Meaning, Journal of Material Culture, 10(1), p. 115.

30 Ibid.

31 Wutich & Brewis, “Food, Water, and Scarcity,” pp. 451–452.

32 M. Douglas (1992) Risk and Blame: Essays in Cultural Theory (London: Routledge), p. 29.

33 Douglas & Wildavsky, “Risk and Culture.”

34 Douglas, “Risk and Blame” p. 29.

35 M. Douglas (1966) Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (New York: Routledge), p. 36.

36 Douglas, “Risk and Blame,” p. 24.

37 Douglas & Wildavsky, “Risk and Culture,” p. 26.

38 M. Zahedi (2007) A Look at the Sociological Foundations of Traditional Irrigation Systems in Iran, Peykenoor, 5(1), p. 13 [in Persian].

39 Wutich & Ragsdale, “Water Insecurity and Emotional Distress,” pp. 2117.

40 Wutich & Brewis, “Food, Water, and Scarcity,” pp. 451-452.

41 K. Hastrup (2013) Water and the Configuration of Social Worlds: An Anthropological Perspective, Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 5, p. 61.

42 Eslami, “Zayanderud: Past, Present and Future,” pp. 132–133 [in Persian].

43 Ibid, p. 110.

44 Regional Water Company of Isfahan (2014) History of company. Available at: http://www.esrw.ir/SC.php?type=static&id=4.Need, viewed August 25, 2017.

45 Eslami, “Zayanderud: Past, Present and Future,” p. 112.

46 Wutich & Ragsdale. “Water Insecurity and Emotional Distress,” p. 2117.

47 H. Nadjari (2003) Gavkhoni; International wetland in Isfahan [in Persian] (Tehran: Department of Environment), p. 64.

48 Statistical Center of Iran (2016) The Urban Population of Iran Based on Gender and Age Brackets. Available at: https://www.amar.org.ir/%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%88%D9%85%DB%8C-%D9%86%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B3-%D9%88-%D9%85%D8%B3%DA%A9%D9%86/%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%AC-%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C, accessed October 12, 2017.

49 H. Hossaini Abari (2000) Zayandehrud: From Its Source to the Mouth [in Persian] (Isfahan: Golha Publication), p. 6.

50 H. Hossaini Abari (1999) Traditional Management of Zayanderud, a Debate in Iranian Native Knowledge, Qarterly Journal of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities of University of Isfahan, 2(15), p. 104 [in Persian].

51 Hossaini Abari, “Zayandeh rud,” p. 92.

52 Ibid, p. 163.

53 Hossaini, “Traditional Management of Zayanderud.”

54 Ibid, pp. 105–106.

55 A. Khatun-Abadi (2009) Investigating the History of Zayanderud, in: M. Gharani (ed) Articles, Lectures and Opinions Presented in the Convention of Investigating Zayanderud Water Crisis, pp. 21–43 (Isfahan. Iran: Publication Recreational Center of Isfahan Municipality) [in Persian], p. 41.

56 Hajian, “Comprehensive Reference of Zayanderud,” p. 60.

57 Orlove & Caton, “Water Sustainability,” p. 403.

58 M. Eslami (2009) Zayanderud: Past, Present and Future, in: M. Gharani (ed) Articles, Lectures and Opinions Presented in the Convention Investigating Zayanderud Water Crisis (Isfahan, Iran: Publication of Recreational Center of Isfahan Municipality) [in Persian], p. 105.

59 Wutich & Ragsdale, “Water Insecurity and Emotional Distress,” pp. 2116–2125.

60 Wutich & Brewis, “Food, Water, and Scarcity,” pp. 444–468.

61 C. Hadley & A. Wutich (2009) Experience-Based Measures of Food and Water Security: Biocultural Approaches to Grounded Measures of Insecurity, Human Organization, 68(4).

62 Wutich & Brewis, “Food, Water, and Scarcity,” pp. 451–452.

63 Wutich & Brewis, “Food, Water, and Scarcity,” p. 452.

64 Wutich & Ragsdale, “Water Insecurity and Emotional Distress,” p. 2123.