HDCA 2013

Harris, L. (2013). Elements of Feminist Political Ecology and Capabilities. In J. Goldin (Ed). Water and Capabilities Special Issue. E-bulletin of the Human Development and Capability Association (December 2013).

Excerpt: Through a focus on water politics and access to water, especially important social and political categories that condition differential access and participation in governance (such as gender, landlessness and ethnicity), contribute to several of the themes that fit well with a Capability Approach to water and well-being. Much of my case study work has focused on the situation in south-eastern Turkey, the relatively impoverished and politically contentious Kurdish region of the country. My more recent work also highlights themes of water access, governance, and meaning for people’s everyday lives in the contexts of Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa. Specifically, drawing on the framework set out by Goldin (2013) entitled From Vagueness to Precision, as well as on Sen’s framework on ‘intrinsically valuable functionings and capabilities’, there are several primary themes that this work has addressed, largely working beyond simply a sense of well-being as tied to bodily health and function. This work thinks more broadly around social and political ways in which people engage in community and in senses of relative inequality and difference. It also thinks about broader environmental justice and inequality considerations around water-related developmental and environmental change. Although bodily health and well-being is not the focus of our discussion, it is a starting point. The examples below then broaden out to consider relative inequality, engagement in the social and political community (including ideas of inclusion and exclusion), as well as broader political processes that impinge on the well-being of different populations.