The ethno-politics of water security : contestations of ethnicity and gender in strategies to control water in the Andes of Peru

In regions were water is scarce, it plays a central role not only allowing survival but also shaping cultural identity and the socio-organizational and political dynamics of a community. Through the presentation and analysis of ethno-historical evidence, and by carefully mapping and documenting existing water practices in the communities of the Colca Valley located in the southern Andes of Peru, this thesis shows how water itself has constituted a central resource in defining and re-defining ethnicity and gender in the Andes. Conversely, ethnicity and gender have also been constitutive elements of fair and secure access to water in Andean communities throughout Peruvian history. The thesis also analyses how irrigation policies and interventions have created spaces and opportunities both for inclusion and exclusion, for contestation and struggles; as well as for empowerment of marginalized people.[authors abstract]