Water Management in Khartoum International Research Project: WAMAKHAIR

该项目的目标是：（1）描述喀土穆大都市地区的水分配系统;（2）从社会和空间差异的角度分析获得水的差异;（3）解释与当前变化有关的城市水管理的社会空间转变。该项目建立在这样一个假设的基础上：从这个意义上说，水流可以被视为当代城市社会权力和变革的一种表达。关键的问题是，目前的监管制度如何反映城市社会及其各部分内部的变革进程，即一方面是竞争、分化和排斥，另一方面是凝聚和包容。该项目的第二个假设认为，这些部分矛盾的过程可以在空间格局和日益扩大的差距中观察到。在此基础上，该项目将侧重于代表不同生计和住区形式的五个案例研究地区，即高耗水量的上层阶级地区、日益缺水的中产阶级居民区、高度弱势居民的棚户区、城郊农民住区和工业区。这些案例研究将在以下方面进行比较：水的使用实践、当地对水的认识和讨论、分配系统不同层面的水分配机制以及城市社会中不同社会群体为谈判其需求和利益而制定的战略。该项目的第三个假设将喀土穆的情况置于更大的解释背景中。它认为，当地的进程反映了经济自由化和合法性话语的基础上，伊斯兰教的全球影响。最后，法德研究小组打算利用这一合作项目，加强和强化人文地理学的理论生产，寻找替代品，远离目前的主流辩论下盎格鲁-撒克逊人的统治。

The objectives of the project are to (1) describe the system of water distribution in the metropolitan area of Khartoum, to (2) analyse differences in the access to water in terms of social and spatial differentiation, and to (3) interpret socio-spatial transformations of urban water management in relation to current changes. The project builds on the hypothesis that in this sense water flows can be seen as an expression of power and change in contemporary urban societies. The key question is how the present regulatory system reflects transformational processes within the urban society and its fragments, i.e. competition, differentiation and exclusion on the one hand, and cohesion and inclusion on the other. The second hypothesis of the project argues that these partly contradictory processes can be observed in spatial patterns and growing disparities. On this basis the project will focus on five case study areas that represent different forms of livelihood and settlement, i.e. an upper class area with high water consumption, a middle class neighbourhood with increasing water scarcity, a squatter settlement with highly vulnerable inhabitants, a peri-urban peasant settlement and an industrial area. The case studies will be compared with respect to the practice of water use, the local perception of and the discourse about water, the mechanisms of water distribution on different levels of the distributive system, and the strategies different social groups within the urban society develop to negotiate theirs needs and interests. The third hypothesis of the project puts the case of Khartoum into a larger context of interpretation. It argues that local processes reflect both the global influences of economic liberalization and legitimatory discourses on the basis of Islam. Finally, the Franco-German research team intends to use this cooperative project for an enhancement and intensification of theory production in human geography, looking for alternatives away from present mainstream debates under Anglo-Saxon domination.