Abstract

ALVAREZ, Mario Alejandro Jorquera  and  YANEZ, Dimas Carlos Santibáñez. Waters Cultures: processes of transformation, frictions and new water forms. Effects of state intervention in the context of drought: the case of the agricultural communities of Atelcura, Coquimbo region, Chile. Rev. urug. Antropología y Etnografía [online]. 2022, vol.7, n.2, e641.  Epub Dec 01, 2022. ISSN 2393-7068.  https://doi.org/10.29112/ruae.v7i2.1641.

The article approaches the transformations of the water culture, and the forms that water takes, in agricultural communities the Atelcura, located in the commune of Canela, in the Coquimbo Region, Chile, because of measures adopted by the State to face a scenario of water shortage and desertification. The research was developed from a socio-anthropological perspective in a sector grouping four agricultural communities supported by ethnography as method, approach, and text. The research shows that contextual and policy changes a) favor a process of transformation of the water culture in these communities, b) the interventions of public programs introduce technical devices that modify, and therefore mediatize, the access, relationship, and use of water, configuring a new regulation regime, which, c) transforms community ties and traditional forms of decision making in the communities. We hold that these transformations, and the new regulatory regimes that support them, accelerate processes of cultural mismatches that irremediably compromises significant sections of the community.

Keywords : Water culture; water forms; desertification; statal intervention; ethnography.

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