Browsing by Author "Gayan P.C."
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- ItemHYDRAULIC POWER, IRRIGATION AND ENVIRONMENT: ECOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE SANTIAGO OF CHILE BASIN. 16th-19th C.PODER HIDRÁULICO, IRRIGACIÓN Y AMBIENTE: TRANSFORMACIONES ECOLÓGICAS, ECONÓMICAS Y SOCIALES EN LA CUENCA DE SANTIAGO DE CHILE. S.XVI-XIX*(Springer International Publishing, 2023) Gayan P.C.; Labra G.E.; Castillo S.C.© (2023), (Universidad de Tarapaca). All Rights Reserved.This paper develops a historical and socio-spatial analysis of the relationship between human beings and water in the Santiago basin between the 16th and 19th centuries. The aim is to problematize a hegemonic narrative that proclaims an epic nineteenth-century civilization of private initiative, which would have transformed the wild valleys of Chile into fertile fields through irrigation. This research suggests that over time each society-the pre-Columbian, colonial, and modern-managed the water resource according to its technological possibilities and socioeconomic, political, and cultural patterns. These different models of relationship with the environment, particularly with water, had both positive results and inherent problems, due to the particularities of each temporal and socio-cultural context.
- ItemThe drought of 1886. Hydro-social networks, water appropriation and environmental conflict in the central and northern zone of ChileLa sequía de 1886. Redes hidro-sociales, apropiación del agua y conflicto ambiental en la Zona Centro y Norte de Chile(Academic Press, 2021) Labra G.E.; Gayan P.C.© 2021, Universidad Austral de Chile. All rights reserved.Drawing from environmental history, this paper studies the power relations that articulate the management of hydro-social networks in Chile. It analyzes the drought of 1886 as a key juncture for the purpose of examining the relationship between society and nature, in a context of State building and insertion of the country into global markets. During that year, different channels owners monopolized the exiguous available flows, protected in their individual rights of property on the water, without considering the arid socio-environmental context. This generated several conflicts over water distribution, in which the Chilean State had to intervene through its various provincial authorities. We argue that these conflicts were not consequence of the reduction of rainfall but of the way in which the Chilean ruling class, the State and its legislation understood the link between human beings and nature. In order to understand the principles that shaped this relationship, we examine different conflicts related to the management of hydro-social networks in the provinces of Atacama, Colchagua and Aconcagua.