Between the Life and Death of a River: Contested Knowledge in a Toxic Commons

一条河流的生与死之间：有毒公地中的知识争议

• 批准号: 2713343
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2713343
• 关键词: Between; Life; Death; River; Contested

The Yamuna River is the second largest tributary of the Ganga in India and crosses several states before reaching Delhi. Although its 22 km stretch through the capital only makes up 2 percent of its catchment area, it generates more than 75 percent of total pollutants in the river. Largely, this owes to the dumping of industrial effluents as well as untreated sewage that enters the river via a network of drains. Owing to its depleted levels of dissolved oxygen, by the time the Yamuna leaves Delhi, it is considered an ecologically 'dead' river. On the one hand, this project examines the practices of calculation and planning through which knowledge about waste and pollution is produced by state and scientific authorities. What constitutes 'death' in the context of the river and what are the political stakes embedded in efforts for its revival? At the same time, it engages with the diversity of livelihood practices that populate the banks of the Yamuna, looking at how a dead river paradoxically also sustains 'life'. This involves tracing how local residents, who both depend on the river and most exposed to its harm, think about and respond to toxicity in their day to day lives. By studying how state and subaltern groups produce knowledge about waste and water and where these knowledge practices interact or come into conflict, this project investigates toxicity as an emerging ground of socio-political contention in Delhi. The overarching questions asked are: under what conditions do claims about pollution and ecology accrue political significance? How does this affect the everyday negotiations of care and harm that characterise life around the Yamuna? In its focus around a 'dead' river, the research will also draw broader conclusions for how we understand 'life' and 'death', particularly within zones of intense ecological degradation.

亚穆纳河是印度恒河的第二大支流，在到达德里之前流经几个邦。尽管它贯穿首都的22公里只占其集水区面积的2%，但它产生的污染物占河流总污染物的75%以上。这在很大程度上是由于工业废水的倾倒，以及通过排水网络进入河流的未经处理的污水。当亚穆纳河离开德里时，由于其耗尽的溶解氧水平，它被认为是一条生态上“死亡”的河流。一方面，这个项目考察了国家和科学当局通过计算和规划来产生关于废物和污染的知识的做法。在这条河的背景下，什么是“死亡”？在复兴这条河的努力中，有哪些政治利害关系？与此同时，它与亚穆纳河沿岸居民的多样化生计实践相结合，考察一条死河如何矛盾地也维持着“生命”。这涉及到追踪当地居民在日常生活中如何思考和应对有毒物质，他们既依赖于河流，也最容易受到河流的危害。通过研究政府和下属团体如何产生关于废物和水的知识，以及这些知识实践在哪里相互作用或发生冲突，该项目调查了毒性作为德里社会政治争论的一个新兴领域。最主要的问题是：在什么情况下，关于污染和生态的主张具有政治意义？这如何影响亚穆纳河周围生活中每天关于关爱和伤害的谈判？这项研究的重点是一条“死”河，它还将为我们如何理解“生”和“死”得出更广泛的结论，特别是在生态严重退化的地区。