A B Stensrud
Biographic Data
| ID | 28927 |
|---|---|
| NAME | A B Stensrud |
| GIVEN NAMES | A B |
| FAMILY NAME | Stensrud |
| SIGNATURE | STENSRUD A B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Agder |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1441-0313 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 79 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Sálvese Quien Pueda: Emergencies and In(ter)Dependencies among Micro-Entrepreneurs in Neoliberal Andean Peru
Informal micro-entrepreneurs in Cusco, Peru, were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the following political and economic crises. This article shows how families making a living from ‘independent’ businesses navigate the necrocapitalist dynamics of contemporary neoliberalism. Discussing what it means to be ‘independent’ in a context of precarity, inadequate public health care and racialised inequalities, I argue that entrepreneu…
The Anthropology of Water and Environmental Change in the Andes
Access to water has always been important in the Andes, and since the 1980s, it has become an even more critical issue because of the growth of extractive industries, increasing urban populations, and global climate change. The massive loss of glaciers in the Andes is one of the most visible signs of global warming and has wide-ranging implications for water availability, ecosystems, livelihoods and more-than-human lives. Among the consequences o…
The Unequal Ocean: Living with Environmental Change along the Peruvian Coast
La formalización de los derechos de uso del agua y la propiedad hidráulica condicional en el valle del Colca, Perú
Este artículo examina la producción y negociación del uso y apropiación del agua entre los campesinos de la cuenca hidrográfica de Majes-Colca en el sur peruano, en donde la administración pública del agua inició en 2011 un proceso de formalización de los derechos de uso para agua potable. Mientras un proyecto de irrigación de gran escala canaliza el agua de las cabeceras a la agricultura de exportación en el desierto, la provisión de agua se va …
A Future History of Water by Andrea Ballestero
Reviewed by: A Future History of Water by Andrea Ballestero Astrid B. Stensrud Andrea Ballestero. A Future History of Water. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. 248 pp. Water was declared to be a human right by the United Nations in 2010, yet universal access to water is still not a reality. In A Future History of Water, anthropologist Andrea Ballestero provides a sophisticated and intriguing analysis of the everyday, mundane work done by bureau…
The social embeddedness of hydraulic engineers in the regulation of water and infrastructure in Peru
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the Majes-Colca watershed in Peru, this article explores some of the questions posed by Wittfogel regarding the management of hydraulic infrastructure and its effects on social relationships, by focusing on the practices of the ‘hydraulic bureaucracy’ in Peru. The author argues that although a hydraulic bureaucracy developed after the nationalization of water and the construction of the Majes Irrigation Project,…
Safe milk and risky quinoa
The neoliberal global food system has intensified the uncertainties associated with peasant farming and agrarian livelihoods around the world. This article examines processes of precarization among smallholder farmers in the Majes Irrigation Project in Peru. By discussing price volatility and uncertainty related to the "free market," I argue that the conditions of small-scale entrepreneurial farmers today can best be understood in terms of gambli…
You cannot contradict the engineer: Disencounters of modern technology, climate change, and power in the Peruvian Andes
In the World Bank funded development program PSI Sierra, which aims to modernize irrigation technologies in the Peruvian highlands, the complexity of climate change is reduced to the manageable issues of water scarcity and lack of modern technology. By focusing on the encounters between farmers in Colca Valley and PSI engineers, the author argues that most of these encounters can best be analyzed as failed encounters or "disencounters", which con…
Precarious entrepreneurship: Mobile phones, work and kinship in neoliberal Peru
In the first decade of the 21st century, a new niche opened up in the street economy of Cusco, a city in the Southern Peruvian Andes: the sale of calls between mobile phones. This article shows that the neoliberal policies of deregulation that enabled the mobile phone call business have also produced new regulatory spaces that small‐scale entrepreneurs have to manage in their relationships to the authorities. Through the story of a family busines…
Harvesting Water for the Future: Reciprocity and Environmental Justice in the Politics of Climate Change in Peru
Examination of the distribution of climate vulnerability, water resources, and economic opportunities in a Peruvian watershed suggests that, rather than the concept of adaptation, a focus on political agency is important to highlight the creative and dynamic political action in local responses to climate change. Peasant farmers and herders in the Peruvian headwaters are among the most vulnerable to global warming, since they are the first to expe…
Water Citizenship: Negotiating Water Rights and Contesting Water Culture in the Peruvian Andes
This article examines the implementation of Peru’s new water law and discusses how it produces new forms of water citizenship. Inspired by the global paradigm of “integrated water resources management,” the law aims to include all citizens in the management of the country’s water resources by embracing a “new water culture.” We ask what forms of water citizenship emerge from the new water law and how they engage with local water practices and aff…
Dreams of growth and fear of water crisis: The ambivalence of "progress" in the Majes-Siguas Irrigation Project, Peru
The boom in extractivist industries since the 1990s has resulted in a concomitant increase in socio-environmental conflicts in Peru. In the southern region of Arequipa, the Majes Irrigation Project has transformed 15,000 hectares of desert to fertile land and has become a hub for economic opportunities. In the planned second phase of the project, a new dam will be built to extend the amount of irrigated land and foster large-scale export-oriented…
Climate Change, Water Practices and Relational Worlds in the Andes
Climate change translates into insecure water provision and produces new uncertainties for farmers and politicians in Colca Valley, Southern Peru. Anthropological studies of climate change have mainly focused on adaptation, resilience and so-called indigenous traditional knowledge. This article argues that a stronger ethnographic focus on material practices - including knowledge practices - can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of climat…
Commodifying Water in Times of Global Warming
Los peregrinos urbanos en Qoyllurit'i y el juego mimético de miniaturas
Este artículo trata de los peregrinos de la ciudad de Cusco que participan en el juego de miniaturas en el santuario de Qoyllurit'i. Partiendo de una descripción del contexto socioeconómico urbano y de la ontología andina, este trabajo se propone explorar cómo podemos entender el juego, el significado de las miniaturas, y la importancia del peregrinaje en el contexto urbano contemporáneo. Una fuerte motivación para ir a Qoyllurit'i consiste en da…
Forhandling om makt og respekt. Felleskjøkken som møtepunkt mellom kvinner og stat i Peru
Climate Change, Water Practices and Relational Worlds in the Andes
Climate change translates into insecure water provision and produces new uncertainties for farmers and politicians in Colca Valley, Southern Peru. Anthropological studies of climate change have mainly focused on adaptation, resilience and so-called indigenous traditional knowledge. This article argues that a stronger ethnographic focus on material practices - including knowledge practices - can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of climat…
Water Citizenship: Negotiating Water Rights and Contesting Water Culture in the Peruvian Andes
This article examines the implementation of Peru’s new water law and discusses how it produces new forms of water citizenship. Inspired by the global paradigm of “integrated water resources management,” the law aims to include all citizens in the management of the country’s water resources by embracing a “new water culture.” We ask what forms of water citizenship emerge from the new water law and how they engage with local water practices and aff…
Dreams of growth and fear of water crisis: The ambivalence of "progress" in the Majes-Siguas Irrigation Project, Peru
The boom in extractivist industries since the 1990s has resulted in a concomitant increase in socio-environmental conflicts in Peru. In the southern region of Arequipa, the Majes Irrigation Project has transformed 15,000 hectares of desert to fertile land and has become a hub for economic opportunities. In the planned second phase of the project, a new dam will be built to extend the amount of irrigated land and foster large-scale export-oriented…
You cannot contradict the engineer: Disencounters of modern technology, climate change, and power in the Peruvian Andes
In the World Bank funded development program PSI Sierra, which aims to modernize irrigation technologies in the Peruvian highlands, the complexity of climate change is reduced to the manageable issues of water scarcity and lack of modern technology. By focusing on the encounters between farmers in Colca Valley and PSI engineers, the author argues that most of these encounters can best be analyzed as failed encounters or "disencounters", which con…
Harvesting Water for the Future: Reciprocity and Environmental Justice in the Politics of Climate Change in Peru
Examination of the distribution of climate vulnerability, water resources, and economic opportunities in a Peruvian watershed suggests that, rather than the concept of adaptation, a focus on political agency is important to highlight the creative and dynamic political action in local responses to climate change. Peasant farmers and herders in the Peruvian headwaters are among the most vulnerable to global warming, since they are the first to expe…
Safe milk and risky quinoa
The neoliberal global food system has intensified the uncertainties associated with peasant farming and agrarian livelihoods around the world. This article examines processes of precarization among smallholder farmers in the Majes Irrigation Project in Peru. By discussing price volatility and uncertainty related to the "free market," I argue that the conditions of small-scale entrepreneurial farmers today can best be understood in terms of gambli…
Los peregrinos urbanos en Qoyllurit'i y el juego mimético de miniaturas
Este artículo trata de los peregrinos de la ciudad de Cusco que participan en el juego de miniaturas en el santuario de Qoyllurit'i. Partiendo de una descripción del contexto socioeconómico urbano y de la ontología andina, este trabajo se propone explorar cómo podemos entender el juego, el significado de las miniaturas, y la importancia del peregrinaje en el contexto urbano contemporáneo. Una fuerte motivación para ir a Qoyllurit'i consiste en da…
Forhandling om makt og respekt. Felleskjøkken som møtepunkt mellom kvinner og stat i Peru
Los peregrinos urbanos en Qoyllurit'i y el juego mimético de miniaturas
Este artículo trata de los peregrinos de la ciudad de Cusco que participan en el juego de miniaturas en el santuario de Qoyllurit'i. Partiendo de una descripción del contexto socioeconómico urbano y de la ontología andina, este trabajo se propone explorar cómo podemos entender el juego, el significado de las miniaturas, y la importancia del peregrinaje en el contexto urbano contemporáneo. Una fuerte motivación para ir a Qoyllurit'i consiste en da…
Commodifying Water in Times of Global Warming
Harvesting Water for the Future: Reciprocity and Environmental Justice in the Politics of Climate Change in Peru
Examination of the distribution of climate vulnerability, water resources, and economic opportunities in a Peruvian watershed suggests that, rather than the concept of adaptation, a focus on political agency is important to highlight the creative and dynamic political action in local responses to climate change. Peasant farmers and herders in the Peruvian headwaters are among the most vulnerable to global warming, since they are the first to expe…
Water Citizenship: Negotiating Water Rights and Contesting Water Culture in the Peruvian Andes
This article examines the implementation of Peru’s new water law and discusses how it produces new forms of water citizenship. Inspired by the global paradigm of “integrated water resources management,” the law aims to include all citizens in the management of the country’s water resources by embracing a “new water culture.” We ask what forms of water citizenship emerge from the new water law and how they engage with local water practices and aff…
Dreams of growth and fear of water crisis: The ambivalence of "progress" in the Majes-Siguas Irrigation Project, Peru
The boom in extractivist industries since the 1990s has resulted in a concomitant increase in socio-environmental conflicts in Peru. In the southern region of Arequipa, the Majes Irrigation Project has transformed 15,000 hectares of desert to fertile land and has become a hub for economic opportunities. In the planned second phase of the project, a new dam will be built to extend the amount of irrigated land and foster large-scale export-oriented…
Climate Change, Water Practices and Relational Worlds in the Andes
Climate change translates into insecure water provision and produces new uncertainties for farmers and politicians in Colca Valley, Southern Peru. Anthropological studies of climate change have mainly focused on adaptation, resilience and so-called indigenous traditional knowledge. This article argues that a stronger ethnographic focus on material practices - including knowledge practices - can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of climat…
Precarious entrepreneurship: Mobile phones, work and kinship in neoliberal Peru
In the first decade of the 21st century, a new niche opened up in the street economy of Cusco, a city in the Southern Peruvian Andes: the sale of calls between mobile phones. This article shows that the neoliberal policies of deregulation that enabled the mobile phone call business have also produced new regulatory spaces that small‐scale entrepreneurs have to manage in their relationships to the authorities. Through the story of a family busines…
The social embeddedness of hydraulic engineers in the regulation of water and infrastructure in Peru
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the Majes-Colca watershed in Peru, this article explores some of the questions posed by Wittfogel regarding the management of hydraulic infrastructure and its effects on social relationships, by focusing on the practices of the ‘hydraulic bureaucracy’ in Peru. The author argues that although a hydraulic bureaucracy developed after the nationalization of water and the construction of the Majes Irrigation Project,…
Safe milk and risky quinoa
The neoliberal global food system has intensified the uncertainties associated with peasant farming and agrarian livelihoods around the world. This article examines processes of precarization among smallholder farmers in the Majes Irrigation Project in Peru. By discussing price volatility and uncertainty related to the "free market," I argue that the conditions of small-scale entrepreneurial farmers today can best be understood in terms of gambli…
You cannot contradict the engineer: Disencounters of modern technology, climate change, and power in the Peruvian Andes
In the World Bank funded development program PSI Sierra, which aims to modernize irrigation technologies in the Peruvian highlands, the complexity of climate change is reduced to the manageable issues of water scarcity and lack of modern technology. By focusing on the encounters between farmers in Colca Valley and PSI engineers, the author argues that most of these encounters can best be analyzed as failed encounters or "disencounters", which con…
A Future History of Water by Andrea Ballestero
Reviewed by: A Future History of Water by Andrea Ballestero Astrid B. Stensrud Andrea Ballestero. A Future History of Water. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. 248 pp. Water was declared to be a human right by the United Nations in 2010, yet universal access to water is still not a reality. In A Future History of Water, anthropologist Andrea Ballestero provides a sophisticated and intriguing analysis of the everyday, mundane work done by bureau…
La formalización de los derechos de uso del agua y la propiedad hidráulica condicional en el valle del Colca, Perú
Este artículo examina la producción y negociación del uso y apropiación del agua entre los campesinos de la cuenca hidrográfica de Majes-Colca en el sur peruano, en donde la administración pública del agua inició en 2011 un proceso de formalización de los derechos de uso para agua potable. Mientras un proyecto de irrigación de gran escala canaliza el agua de las cabeceras a la agricultura de exportación en el desierto, la provisión de agua se va …
The Unequal Ocean: Living with Environmental Change along the Peruvian Coast
The Anthropology of Water and Environmental Change in the Andes
Access to water has always been important in the Andes, and since the 1980s, it has become an even more critical issue because of the growth of extractive industries, increasing urban populations, and global climate change. The massive loss of glaciers in the Andes is one of the most visible signs of global warming and has wide-ranging implications for water availability, ecosystems, livelihoods and more-than-human lives. Among the consequences o…
Sálvese Quien Pueda: Emergencies and In(ter)Dependencies among Micro-Entrepreneurs in Neoliberal Andean Peru
Informal micro-entrepreneurs in Cusco, Peru, were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the following political and economic crises. This article shows how families making a living from ‘independent’ businesses navigate the necrocapitalist dynamics of contemporary neoliberalism. Discussing what it means to be ‘independent’ in a context of precarity, inadequate public health care and racialised inequalities, I argue that entrepreneu…
Political science (9 works) · Water Governance and Infrastructure (8 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Geography (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Climate change (5 works) · Economics (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (4 works) · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development (3 works)