Out of the Mainstream

Rutgerd Boelens is a researcher with Wageningen University, The Netherlands, coordinator of the South American programs Water Law and Indigenous Rights (WALIR) and Concertacion. In books, articles and films, he has widely published on the linkages between water rights, cultures, policies and power relations. David H. Getches focused most of his academic and legal career on the rights of native peoples and on water rights in the United States. Since 2003 he has been Dean of the University of Colorado Law School and he holds the title of Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law. Armando Guevara-Gil is a Law Professor at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Lima. His main fields are Law and Anthropology, History of Law, and Law & Development. He served as the national coordinator of the Water Law and Indigenous Rights Project in Peru (WALIR), headed by Wageningen University and the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

• Part 1: Water Rights, Power, Identity and Social Struggle. An Introduction 1. Introduction: Water Struggles and the Politics of Identity 2. Water Property Relations and Modern Policy Regimes: Neoliberal Utopia and the Disempowerment of Collective Action 3. The Limits of State Reform and Multiculturalism in Latin America. Contemporary Illustrations 4. A Masculine World: the Politics of Gender and Identity in Irrigation Expert Thinking Part 2: Politics of Identity and Andean Livelihoods 5. Identity Politics and Indigenous Movements in Andean History 6. Cultural Identity and Indigenous Water Rights in the Andean Highlands 7. Land, Water and the Search for Sustainable Livelihood in the Andes Part 3: Tensions and Mergers among Local Water Rights and National Policies 8. Water Laws, Collective Rights and System Diversity in the Andean Countries 9. Water Rights and Conflicts in an Inter-Andean Watershed. The Achamayo River Valley, Junin, Peru 10. Water Rights, Mining and Indigenous Groups in Chile's Atacama 11. Indian Water Rights in Conflict with State Water Rights: the Case of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Nevada, USA 12. Acequias of the Southwestern United States in Tension with State Water Laws 13. Community-controlled Codification of Local Resource Tenure: an Effective Tool for Defending Local Rights? Part 4: Social Mobilization and Grassroots Strategies for Water Rights 14. Using International Norms in Indigenous Water Rights Struggles 15. Networking Strategies and Struggles for Water Control. From Water Wars to Mobilizations for Day-to-Day Water Rights Defence 16. Federating and Defending: Water, Territory and Extraction in the Andes 17. Water Rights, Power and Identity. Conclusions

'This book is an extraordinary intellectual and political tour de force. For the first time, the complex power-laden processes that shape the relationships between water rights, politics and identity are explored in ways that are academically stimulating, intellectually enriching and politically significant - an indispensible guide for all those who seek both to better understand how water rights and social, cultural or political power intertwine and to formulate and engage in socially empowering and politically liberating strategies of resistance and transformation.' --Erik Swyngedouw, Professor of Geography, University of Manchester, UK 'Out of the Mainstream is one of the most powerful critiques of the neoliberal globalisation utopia I have ever read. In their careful and penetrating studies, the contributors reveal the rich and varied experiences of communal water systems, the struggles of local communities against neoliberal policies and their collective attempts to construct sustainable livelihoods.' Cristbal Kay, Emeritus Professor International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, the Netherlands 'This book is a path breaking compilation of essays that include and provoke critical thinking about the law and politics of water allocation and power relationships. It reveals the failings of free market approaches linked to the global thirst for water and other resources, and provides needed guidance for reevaluating those approaches with attention to the wisdom and longstanding resource use practices of indigenous and other local communities.' -- S. James Anaya, Professor of Human Rights Law and Policy, University of Arizona; and United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People 'The mark of a groundbreaking book is that it sheds light on an enduring problem in an entirely new way. Tackling the critical confrontation between traditional and modern water systems, the authors bring convincing new field data and insights to the contentious debates surrounding the water crisis in the Andes and indigenous communities of North America.' -- Robert E. Rhoades, Distinguished Research Professor, University of Georgia, USA 'Out of the Mainstream is a solid addition to any political collection focusing on the environment.' Willis M. Buhle, The Midwest Book Review 'The EarthScan book breaks through many misconceptions about water rights and management to describe local and community use of water from the bottom-up.' Jeff Thurston, Vector One 'This book rejects a number of shibboleths among water professionals and replaces them with advice that emphasises fairness, community, and bottom-up democracy.' -- Helen Ingram, Water Alternatives 'This excellent collection examines market-generated water conflicts and responses at local, regional, and national levels in a set of case studies involving people and communities in the Andes and the US Southwest' -- B.F.Hope, Choice Magazine, October 2010