The Community Water Jar

Gender and Technology in Guinea

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2308192
AutoresWenda K Bauchspies (0000-0002-7389-5904, Georgia Institute of Technology)
Ano2012
Volume47
Fascículo4
Páginas392-403
Data de publicação2012-08-01
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Asian and African Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0021-9096 • E-ISSN: 1745-2538
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0021909612444082
OpenAlexW2108193734
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas6

Access to clean water and water transportation systems have been long-standing signifiers of 'modernity.' Current statistics of availability to improved water sources suggest that Guineans are living outside of accepted norms for modern life. This paper explores daily life through the lens of water workers, water collection, water sources and water containers in order to understand the day-to-day reality behind these statistics and to explore the meaning of modern life in urban West Africa. My point of entrance parallels this measurement of 'modernity' and asks how does water arrive in the homes of West African urban families? For a mid-sized West African city there are various pathways that deliver water to households that all involve water workers and technologies: this paper documents and explores them in order to think critically about avenues of development that aim to improve the flow and access to clean water. The research is based upon participant observation, in-depth interviews and surveys of concessions in a mid-sized West African city

Business · Clean water · Geography · Meaning (existential · Modernity · Operations management · Order (exchange · Parallels · Political science · Rainwater harvesting · Sociology · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Engineering · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology · Water Governance and Infrastructure · Ecology