Taking Their Water for Our City: Archaeology and Water Rights in New York and Beyond

Summary

Water rights is a social issue of growing importance. Recently, the United Nations declared access to clean drinking water to be a basic human right. Yet financial groups are predicting that water is the next major commodity, to be bought and sold like oil. What few are talking about is the long history of water flowing towards political and social centers, and away from rural populations. As Leith Mullings stated in her presidential address, anthropology pays attention to not only that which is manifest, but also to that which is concealed. A social archaeology of New York City’s water system reminds us all of the long-standing nature of urban water crises and provides a way of critiquing past decisions to inform future ones. For approximately 200 years, the city’s growth necessitated the acquisition of water from more and more distant sources. But places rich in water are inhabited places. Taking water from rural communities reshaped them and continues to restrict their development. Documenting the materiality of water struggles over time and space provides opportunities to ask what (and who) we are willing to sacrifice to ensure the future of our cities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Why Social Archaeology Matters

Keywords

Spatial Coverage