Lecture by Markéta Zandlová H₂O: More than Water

Water. H₂O.

At first glance, a domain of the natural sciences.

But is water not rather a socio-natural phenomenon? Are its flow, force, chemical composition, and states not co-shaped by human activity at least as much as by so-called “natural” laws? The study of water—and its absence—compels us to move beyond the Cartesian nature–culture divide. The social and ecological aspects of water and drought are separated more by convention than by ontology. Through its materiality, water connects the atmosphere, underground and surface landscapes, plants, animals, individual human bodies, and society as a whole into one complex yet fragile system.

Water and drought are political. Conflicts over water are always also conflicts over power, control, ownership, and justice. Debates about its (un)availability raise key questions for a world shaken by the climate crisis: how can we live together—not only with other humans, but also with more-than-human actors?

Water embodies multiplicity, fluidity, interconnectedness, transformation, and circulation. It is both wild and domesticated, essential yet endangered—tamed in pipelines and dams, yet still dangerous and resistant to control. These very qualities resonate with the character of the epoch we attempt to name as the Anthropocene, Capitalocene, or Plantationocene—an epoch in which flows of power, capital, and water are inextricably intertwined.

In this lecture, we will therefore look at contemporary society through the prism of water and drought. We will trace where water flows, where it disappears, where it is retained—and what its movement and absence reveal about the world we collectively inhabit.

Markéta Zandlová is an environmental anthropologist focusing on the climate crisis as a socio-natural phenomenon. Her research examines how different groups within Czech society do—or do not—respond to the impacts of global warming, particularly in the form of increasing drought. She led the interdisciplinary research project Stories of Drought: Local Contexts of Extreme Climate Events, Their Perception, and Actors’ Willingness to Participate. She is currently affiliated with the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University.

The lecture will be held in Czech.