Leila Harris and Cynthia Morinville will be presenting at the Association of American Geographers’ (AAG) Annual Meeting in April 2013.

Leila Harris will be panelist in the The Right to Water: Theories and Practices (April 12th) session. She is also one of the organizers for Political Ecologies of the State I (April 11) and Political Ecologies of the State II (April 11) and a discussant in the Feminist Political Ecology of Rivers, Watersheds, Wetlands and Coastal Environments 2 (April 12) session. For more information please click HERE.

Cynthia will be presenting at the Examining the informal: connecting the fragmented city and urban water supply session on Wednesday April 10th.

Abstract:This paper explores the ambivalence of participatory mechanisms for services delivery in a neoliberal context. Specifically, I look at the potential for participation to reproduce inequality rather than address power disparities in the urban context. While much academic literature on participation contends participation is a political tool for empowerment, I look at the potential for participatory mechanisms to entrench inequalities for those whose access to basic services hinges on active engagement and participation vis-à-vis those that need not engage. Based on five months of ethnographic fieldwork in underserved communities of Accra, Ghana looking at community participation in Local Water Boards, this paper explores the tensions that arise for notions of citizenship in the face of growing decentralization and an increasing focus placed on the individual as locus for environmental governance efforts.