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Establishing Development Orthodoxy: Negotiating Masculinities in the Water Sector
Author(s) -
Laurie Nina
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/j.0012-155x.2005.00422.x
Subject(s) - negotiation , context (archaeology) , sociology , gender studies , modernity , nexus (standard) , orthodoxy , identity (music) , subjectivity , political science , social science , aesthetics , epistemology , geography , law , engineering , philosophy , archaeology , embedded system
Despite important work in development studies on the ‘male bias in the development process’, it is generally recognized that gender and development analyses have been slow to engage with masculinities. Focusing attention on the nexus between identity and globalizing development discourses, this article explores the relationship between masculinities and development through an analysis of the gendering of water paradigms. By analysing the example of the recent Cochabamba water wars in Bolivia, and placing them in historical context, the author explores how gendered representations and language are used to downplay and upgrade particular understandings of modernity as they relate to water management, and examines the mechanisms through which specific gendered identities become associated with the most successful versions of ‘modern’ development.