Monsoon uncertainties, Hydro-chemical Infrastructures, and Ecological Time in Sri Lanka

Widger, Tom; Wickramasinghe, Upul

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors argue that anthropological discussions of time will remain limited if alongside human time we do not also consider that which falls beyond – the expansive ecologies of time. A study of time in agricultural contexts like the Mahaweli Irrigation and Development Project (MDIP), which sit at the forefront of clashes caused by the meeting of Green Revolution technologies and monsoon uncertainties, necessarily must reset the underpinning assumption of the tempo and scale of agricultural work. Off-farm actors like the MDIP may have controlled water time, but individual cultivators also had the ability to exercise agency by ‘being well aware’ of time. Disciplinary practices associated with becoming a ‘good farmer’ meant engaging with ecological processes alongside failing hydro-chemical infrastructure – an effort that required mastery over the geophysical constraints of irrigation systems themselves. By significantly enhancing local food production, the MDIP would reduce Sri Lanka’s dependence on food imports and create employment for millions of people.

Citation

Widger, T., & Wickramasinghe, U. (2021). Monsoon uncertainties, Hydro-chemical Infrastructures, and Ecological Time in Sri Lanka. In E. Kirtsoglou, & B. Simpson (Eds.), The Time of Anthropology: Studies of Contemporary Chronopolitics (122-141). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003087199-7

• Online Publication Date: Dec 30, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Dec 2, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 11, 2021
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 122-141
• Series Title: ASA monographs
• Series Number: 52
• Book Title: The Time of Anthropology: Studies of Contemporary Chronopolitics
• Chapter Number: 6
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003087199-7
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1655298
• Publisher URL: https://www.routledge.com/9781350125827