Water, democracy, neoliberalism

Sidney Mintz' classic work on sugar illustrated how "following the thing" can tell us about deeper cultural and political issues. Now, Anthropologist Andrea Muehlebach's recent work

"finds water and democracy at odds in Italy, where political elites subverted the will of 95% of voters to set in motion plans to privatize water, and explains how national governments have placed the demands (and profits) of the financial sector above the safety and human rights of its citizens, from Campania to Flint, Michigan." (2016, This Is Hell!)

Her piece in ROAR (2016) underscores larger issues connected to water politics, such as neoliberalism's impact on the Italian commons, democracy, and citizenship. You can also hear her interviewed via This Is Hell! (28 minutes).