‘Our humanism cannot be captured in the bylaws’ : How moral ecological rationalities and care shape a smallholder irrigation scheme in Zimbabwe

Chitata, Tavengwa and Kemerink-Seyoum, Jeltsje and Cleaver, Frances (2023) ‘Our humanism cannot be captured in the bylaws’ : How moral ecological rationalities and care shape a smallholder irrigation scheme in Zimbabwe. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 6 (4). 2761 - 2780. ISSN 2514-8486

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Abstract

In this article, we bring concepts of institutional bricolage, moral ecological rationalities and care into engagement, to explain the everyday management of an irrigation scheme in Zimbabwe. In doing this we: (a) emphasise the constant processes of bricolage through which irrigators adapt to changing circumstances and dynamically enact irrigation management; (b) illustrate some of the key features of the contemporary, hybridised moral-ecological rationalities that shape these processes of bricolage; (c) show how motivations to care (for people, the environment and infrastructure) as well as to control shape the bricolaged management arrangements. Through this approach, we aim to contribute to expanding ways of thinking about rationalities, including those that express the aspiration to live well together with human and non-human others, including water and infrastructure. The focus on moral-ecological rationalities is central to our contribution to critical water studies. This sheds light on actual practices of governing water and relationships between society-water/people and the environment. In so doing it helps us to understand the possibilities of caring for natural resources.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space
Subjects:
?? geography, planning and developmentdevelopmentnature and landscape conservationmanagement, monitoring, policy and law ??
ID Code:
185545
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
01 Feb 2023 13:25
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
11 Dec 2023 14:15