Towards a Foucauldian Urban Political Ecology of water: Rethinking the hydro-social cy-cle and scholars’ critical engagement

Abstract

Thirty years after the death of Michel Foucault, notwithstanding the fact that his thought has profoundly shaped the contemporary reflection and contributed to move beyond structuralism, the Urban Political Ecology in general and the Urban Political Ecology of water in particular are still dominated by Marxist-inspired theoretical frameworks. This paper aims to provide a theoretical rationale for the development and implementation of a Foucauldian ap-proach to the UPE of water. We show how a Foucauldian approach could shed light on the hydro-social cycle and could be the basis of a specific form of scholarly political engagement.

Keywords

• UPE of water
• Foucauldian approaches
• governmentality
• Marxism