Muddying the divide between land and water
This interdisciplinary collection delves into the experiences and meanings of life in environments where water levels and availability are in constant flux. Amphibious Anthropologies brings together a global set of case studies, from Italy's historic marshes to the tidal pools of the Bahamas, to show how living with unpredictable wetness has become crucial in the age of climate crisis. The book introduces "amphibious anthropologies" as a framework to challenge the dichotomy of water and land and interrogate spaces marked by rapid and profound environmental change. It brings to light the everyday creativity and uncertainty in wet environments like California's Salton Sea and India's North Bihar floodplain. Engaging with disciplines like anthropology, geography, and STS, this work offers a timely discourse on environmental change and resilience.
Alejandro Camargo is assistant professor of environmental and Caribbean studies at Universidad del Norte, Colombia. He is editor of Anthropology and Nature (Colombian Association of Anthropology, 2021) and co-editor of Water Urbanization in Colombia (Pontifical Bolivarian University, 2022).
Luisa Cortesi is assistant professor of water, disasters, and environmental justice at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Marie S. Curie Junior Fellow at the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies, and visiting assistant professor of environment and sustainability at Cornell University. She is co-editor of
Split Waters: The Idea of Water Conflicts (Taylor & Francis, 2021).
Franz Krause is professor of environmental anthropology and co-director of Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities at University of Cologne, founding member of the European Association of Social Anthropology’s Environment and Anthropology Network, and deputy chair of the German Association of Social and Cultural Anthropology. He is coeditor of Delta Worlds: Life between Land and Water (Reimer, 2021) and Delta Life: Exploring Dynamic Environments Where Rivers Meet the Sea (Berghahn, 2021).
Kalyanakrishnan "Shivi" Sivaramakrishnan is Dinakar Singh Professor of India and South Asia Studies, professor of anthropology, professor of forestry and environmental studies, and codirector of the Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University.