A community of fear: emotion and the hydro-social cycle in East Porterville, California

Abstract

Broader governance challenges driving water insecurity globally are well documented in the literature, however the power-laden relationships and emotions that shape water access at the household and community levels are yet to be fully investigated, especially in the context of water consolidation projects. In this article, we examine the role of emotions in mediating access to water and in the production of resource struggles among marginalized communities, existing outside of conventional regulatory frameworks. We bring together two relational approaches -the hydro-social cycle and emotional political ecology -to examine water insecurity and how it manifests in the historically disadvantaged Latinx community of East Porterville, California; an unincorporated community faced with seven years of prolonged drought and widespread dry wells. Findings from qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with residents and local experts and participant observation revealed that the emotions of fear, suffering, embarrassment, shame, and compassion facilitated the reproduction of water insecurity in certain households while engendering access in others. Social hierarchy and horizontal relationships mattered, particularly in how emotions were mobilized and contested and the effects they produced for households. Furthermore, this article shows that water struggles and solutions are emotional processes with political and livelihood implications and thus require attention beyond engineering solutions.

Agency and constraint in environmental policy coherence

“…In some cases, this generated an emotional response -for example, one person cried when reflecting on a difficult period for them, and another became philosophical reflecting on their choices. We did not pursue an emotional political ecology (see Egge & Ajibade, 2021, for a review), and we felt an acute tension trying to analyze how individuals worked with, rather than challenging, the existing structures that govern nature. Indeed, eliciting emotional responses made us back away from probing further about political consequences of their actions.…”

The socioecology of fear: A critical geographical consideration of human‐wolf‐livestock conflict

“…Social science scholarship on HWC recognizes fear as an important psycho-social dynamic influencing perceptions, values, attitudes, and behaviours toward wildlife (Houston et al 2010;Johansson et al 2012). Negative emotions like fear interact with socioecological dynamics across social and spatial scales, and influence individual and collective actions and identities related to resource governance (Sultana 2011;González-Hidalgo and Zografos 2020;Egge and Ajibade 2021;Epstein et al 2021). In the ecological literature, meanwhile, fear is often synonymous with "risk perception," referring to animals' capacity to perceive stimuli associated with threats such as predators, shaping risk avoidance behaviours (Lima and Dill 1990;Gaynor et al 2021).…”

Race, citizenship, and belonging in the pursuit of water and climate justice in California

“…In the Spring of 2014, state agencies began to hear reports of failing domestic wells driven by the prolonged drought emergency, and community members had started to reach out to community-based organizations in search of support (Valley Voice Contributor, 2014). As documented by Egge and Ajibade (2021) through their interviews with East Porterville residents after the drought, water insecurity was experienced emotionally and culturally, as much as physically. Residents experienced lasting trauma from prolonged water insecurity during the drought, reported feelings of embarrassment and shame for not having access to water, and importantly for this study, fear of engagement with the government due to immigration status (Egge and Ajibade, 2021).…”

“…As documented by Egge and Ajibade (2021) through their interviews with East Porterville residents after the drought, water insecurity was experienced emotionally and culturally, as much as physically. Residents experienced lasting trauma from prolonged water insecurity during the drought, reported feelings of embarrassment and shame for not having access to water, and importantly for this study, fear of engagement with the government due to immigration status (Egge and Ajibade, 2021). Lack of citizenship in immigration status prevented community members from formally participating in governance processes and requesting the aid (Egge and Ajibade, 2021).…”

“…Finally, general mistrust of the government and the City of Porterville made annexation difficult (cf. Egge and Ajibade, 2021). After decades of unequal and racialized disparities in water access, plus a historic unwillingness to annex East Porterville, residents remained skeptical about any help offered.…”