Earthworks and Waterpower

Instructor: Colin Drumm Date & Time: May 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th 10:00-12:30 ET

DESCRIPTION: This Seminar investigates the history of state power in relation to the organization and financing of earthworks for irrigation and flood control. Since Wittfogel, earthworks and the administration of hydraulic infrastructure have been enlisted to elaborate the Marxian category of Oriental Despotism, by means of which the supposed stagnation of non-Western state societies could be explained. The Seminar will begin by examining this literature before moving on to more contemporary scholarship on the deep history of hydraulic engineering and its relationship to money, the state, and the social processes of risk management. Water is both a necessary condition for life and a powerful and unpredictable threat. How have different societies responded to the need to manage their exposure to water, and what constraints have this need posed for their organizations, governance structures, and built environments?

 

IMAGE: Michael Heizer, City, 2022.

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