Waterscapes of power in Bangladesh: The politics and anthropology of contested access in large-scale irrigation modernisation

Abstract

This paper is drawn from ethnographically informed research undertaken in 2016‒2017 pertaining to the planned modernisation of two large-scale irrigation schemes in Bangladesh, funded by the Asian Development Bank. The research confirms existing critical irrigation anthropology on the politics and power of large-scale irrigation modernisation and related drive to privatisation. The modernisation of the scheme aimed to increase water, energy and agricultural productivity and to include a new higher-level irrigation management service. Irrigation, it is argued, also has considerable social consequences because it defines specific patterns of cooperation and conflict in serviced agricultural areas. The modernisation of the scheme overlooked socio-cultural, political and ethnoecological considerations largely due to complex institutional constraints and the existing social modalities of power. In the field, using the anthropological method, information was generated in order to better understand the various stakeholder perceptions of the modernisation program and advise on practical implementations. In particular, the research noted how and in what manner dominant and influential social and political alliances control these complex waterscapes.