ISBN-13: 9781874267577 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 196 str.
ISBN-13: 9781874267577 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 196 str.
Enclosing Water is an environmental history of the Industrial Revolution, as inscribed on the Liri valley in Italy's Central Apennines. This book tells the story of how defining water as property - both materially and discursively - led to the emergence of an industrial riverscape, and of a concomitant new ecological consciousness
Enclosing Water is an environmental history of theIndustrial Revolution, as inscribed on the Liri valley inItalys Central Apennines. Amid forces of revolution andempire, and Enlightenment discourses of improvementand political economy, the Liris natural wealth - waterpower- generated sweeping changes in its landscapeand working and living environments. This book tellsthe story of how defining water as property - bothmaterially and discursively - led to the emergence of anindustrial riverscape, and of a concomitant newecological consciousness; to heightened environmentalrisks and awareness of those risks. A dramatic century inthe Liris socio-environmental history, with its cast ofnew industrial bourgeoisie, engineers and civil servants,illuminates how material developments and ideologicalcurrents completely reshaped the relationship betweensociety and nature at the periphery of 19th centuryEurope. By integrating Political Economy into thenarrative of European environmental history, thispioneering book offers a critical new view of discoursesof water disorder and environmental politics in theMediterranean region.