Calculating Risk, Denying Uncertainty: Seismicity and Hydropower Development in Nepal

If Ulrich Beck’s definition of ‘risk society’ describes societies increasingly structured by preoccupations with future environmental threats and related insecurities created by modernization, then Nepal’s hydropower community would appear to be quite the opposite, propelled into environmental denial by twin demands for domestic electricity and revenue earned through hydroelectric export. Our research reveals that prior to the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal, the hydropower community was engaging in what Eviatar Zerubavel calls ‘socially organized denial,’ largely ignoring the uncertainties associated with seismic activity. Earthquakes and tremors were viewed as unavoidable realities that should not impede hydropower development. This denial, we argue, was shaped not only by local political realities and demand for electricity, but also by a larger desire to capitalize on available funds from international finance, which are highly contingent upon Nepal presenting itself as a ‘safe’ zone for investment. Our study focuses on the elites of Nepal’s hydro community: the developers, investors, water experts, and government officials who occupy the ‘upstream’ positions at which scientific knowledge is produced and adjudicated. On one hand, the denial or omission of earthquake potential that we witnessed seems to identify the ineluctable challenges that Nepal faces in attempting to integrate its economy into global markets; on the other hand, it indicates the desire of the private sector to reap profits from hydropower in spite of obvious geophysical dangers. These dangers, we argue, are a bankable risk for these elites. However, for the people directly affected by new hydropower infrastructures, these are risks and uncertainties threatening already vulnerable livelihoods

Attuning Entanglements : Notes on a Fermentation Workshop

Non peer reviewe

The Krampus in Austria: A Case of Booming Identity Politics

In Austria, the Krampus has recently witnessed an unprecedented boom. Since the early 2000s, the number of troupes and organized events has skyrocketed. Most of these can be termed ‘invented traditions’ in Hobsbawm’s sense, as there are only a handful of places with a history of the practice from before the mid-twentieth century. Despite the vast differences between regions, young men in all of them dress up in masks that invoke associations with the devil or demons, wear long fur suits and roam the streets scaring and attacking onlookers with the switches they carry. Investigating contemporary Krampus practices in rural Austria, we argue that they serve as important sources of identity making, at the centre of which are relations between men and women, as well as between ethnic Austrians and immigrants. Through an engagement with anthropological discussions on identity, our article will suggest that the recent Krampus boom is indicative of new forms of white identit

The Krampus in Austria: a case of booming identity politics

In Austria, the Krampus has recently witnessed an unprecedented boom. Since the early 2000s, the number of troupes and organized events has skyrocketed. Most of these can be termed "invented traditions" in Hobsbawm’s sense, as there are only a handful of places with a history of the practice from before the mid-twentieth century. Despite the vast differences between regions, young men in all of them dress up in masks that invoke associations with the devil or demons, wear long fur suits and roam the streets scaring and attacking onlookers with the switches they carry. Investigating contemporary Krampus practices in rural Austria, we argue that they serve as important sources of identity making, at the centre of which are relations between men and women, as well as between ethnic Austrians and immigrants. Through an engagement with anthropological discussions on identity, our article will suggest that the recent Krampus boom is indicative of new forms of white identity

Water power: controversies on development and modernity around the Arun-3 hydropower project in Nepal

Since 25 years, the construction of the Arun-3 Hydropower project has been accompanied by controversies on local, national as well as transnational levels. By focusing on these discourses, this dissertation contributes towards recent debates on development and modernity. The social scientific literature on hydropower projects is predominantly occupied with “local” populations, their resistance and interaction with transnational civil society networks and institutions. Arun-3 gained prominence in these discussions when it was brought before the newly established Word Bank Inspection Panel by a group of activists from Kathmandu. Whereas the ensuing cancellation of the project was often quoted as an example of successful resistance, the people in the Arun valley were disappointed by the subsequent building freeze as they had hoped to profit from wage labour and the access road. After the end of the civil war and the simultaneous economic rise of the country’s neighbours China and India we can now witness an intensified interest in Nepal’s strategic water resources. In spring 2008 the government announced the resumption of Arun-3 through SJVN, a state-owned Indian energy corporation. The memorandum of understanding allocates nearly 80% of the produced electricity to SJVN and therefore adds another line of conflict to the multi-layered discussion. This multi-sited ethnography shows the decisive arguments and interests that emerge in the twisted tale of this unconstructed dam. Der Bau des Arun-3 Staudamms wird seit 25 Jahren von Kontroversen auf lokaler, nationaler wie auch transnationaler Ebene begleitet. Die vorliegende Dissertation fokussiert auf diese Diskurse und leistet so einen Beitrag zu den aktuellen Debatten um Entwicklung und Moderne. Die sozialwissenschaftliche Literatur über Wasserkraftprojekte beschäftigt sich vornehmliche mit „lokalen“ Bevölkerungen, ihrem Widerstand und ihrer Interaktion mit transnationalen zivilgesellschaftlichen Netzwerken und Institutionen. Arun-3 erlangte Bekanntheit, als es 1994 von AktivistInnen aus Kathmandu vor das neu gegründete Inspection Panel der Weltbank gebracht wurde. Während die anschliessende Absage des Projekts als Beispiel für erfolgreichen Widerstand zitiert wurde, war der Grossteil der Einheimischen im Aruntal enttäuscht über den darauf folgenden Baustopp, hatten sie doch gehofft von Lohnarbeit und der Zufahrtsstrasse zu profitieren. Nach Ende des Bürgerkriegs und dem gleichzeitigen ökonomischen Aufschwung der Nachbarstaaten China und Indien kann man ein verstärktes geopolitisches Interesse an Nepals strategischen Wasserressourcen beobachten. Im Frühling 2008 verlautbarte die Regierung die Wiederaufnahme von Arun-3 durch SJVN, einen Energiekonzern in indischem Staatsbesitz. Die Absichtserklärung spricht SJVN fast 80% des produzierten Stroms zu und bringt so eine zusätzliche Konfliktlinie in die vielschichtige Diskussion ein. Diese multi-sited ethnography zeigt die bestimmenden Argumentationslinien und Interessen auf, die in der verworrenen Geschichte dieses nicht gebauten Staudamms hervortreten

With Microbes

Without microbes, no other forms of life would be possible. But what does it mean to be with microbes? In this book, 24 contributors attune to microbes and describe their multiple relationships with humans and others. Ethnographic explorations with fermented foods, waste, faecal matter, immunity, antimicrobial resistance, phages, as well as indigenous and scientific understandings of microbes challenge ideas of them being simple entities: not just pathogenic foes, old friends or good fermentation minions, but much more. Following various entanglements, the book tells how these relations transform both humans and microbes in the process.Des virus pour soigner: le difficile développement d'une innovation biomédicale contre-intuitiv

With Microbes

Without microbes, no other forms of life would be possible. But what does it mean to be with microbes? In this book, 24 contributors attune to microbes and describe their multiple relationships with humans and others. Ethnographic explorations with fermented foods, waste, faecal matter, immunity, antimicrobial resistance, phages, as well as indigenous and scientific understandings of microbes challenge ideas of them being simple entities: not just pathogenic foes, old friends or good fermentation minions, but much more. Following various entanglements, the book tells how these relations transform both humans and microbes in the process.Des virus pour soigner: le difficile développement d'une innovation biomédicale contre-intuitiv

Cultures of fermentation : Living with microbes an introduction to supplement 24

Recent discoveries on the importance of microbes for human biology, health, and culture, the rise of antimicrobial resistance, and developing technological advancements necessitate new dialogues about human relationships with microbes. Long perceptible only through their transformations—from epidemic disease to alcoholic beverages—it is now possible to more fully perceive the diversity of ways in which we influence and are influenced by microbes and to understand that human and microbial cultures are fundamentally intertwined. In the introduction to this supplement, we outline the current state of the art of an “anthropology of microbes” in three subfields of anthropology: biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and archaeology. Moreover, as a result of dialogues borne out of the symposium associated with this issue, and now reflected in the articles themselves, we discuss the interactions between and within the subfields of anthropology. This supplement is committed to the development of a common language for an emerging anthropology of microbes, and in order to shape genuine transdisciplinarity we argue for the continued necessity of “trading zone” points of intersection— such as the Wenner-Gren Foundation’s symposium “Cultures of Fermentation.

Introducing with microbes: from witnessing to withnessing

Ouvrage en Open AccessWithout microbes, no other forms of life would be possible. But what does it mean to be with microbes? With Microbes sets microbes and the multiple ways they exist around, in and on humans at center stage. In this book, 24 social scientists and artists attune to microbes and describe their complicated relationships with humans and other beings. The book shows the multiplicity of these relationships and their dynamism, through detailed ethnographies of the relationships between humans, animals, plants, and microbes. Ethnographic explorations with fermented foods, waste, faecal matter, immunity, antimicrobial resistance, phages, as well as indigenous and scientific understandings of microbes challenge ideas of them being simple entities: not just pathogenic foes, old friends or good fermentation minions, but so much more. By describing these complex, dynamic, and ever-changing entanglements between humans and microbes, the chapters raise crucial points about how microbes are ‘known’ and how social scientists can study microbes with ethnographic methods, more often than not in the absence of microscopes, models, and computations. Following these various entanglements, the book tells how these relations transform both humans and microbes in the process

fff musings 2021 (the abecedary)

fff is an organization dedicated to bringing the three themes of food, feminism, and fermentation together / we aim to invite discussants, and engage in conversations across culinary, health, and educational sectors. In 2021, we built an abecedary, or ABC book, of keywords common to the three domains