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Hydro-social Cohesion

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Cultural Dynamics of Water in Iranian Civilization

Abstract

This chapter focuses on local communities on the Iranian plateau, taking a holistic look at the systematic relationships between them and their water resources in a geographical–historical context. In Iran, water has always been the most crucial production factor, exerting a great influence on socio-economic structures. However, the availability of water in the region has not been stable over time, and accordingly the local people have always had to evolve adaptation strategies through both technologies and social dynamics. This chapter examines the collective response of the local communities to their changing water resources, which occurs mostly through developing water management systems and water-based social mechanisms. The inhabitants could have enhanced their adaptation to their fluctuating water resources through social cohesion.This chapter tries to show how water affects the make-up of a local community through a variety of water-related social mechanisms, like cooperation, qanat maintenance, division of labor and waqf (charitable endowments). The chapter makes a distinction between two types of social cohesion, “inner-territorial cohesion” and “trans-territorial cohesion”, which are both associated with the geographical peculiarities of the water resources of a specific region. Inner-territorial cohesion pertains to a social bond that forms among the residents within a particular territory mainly based on their common interest in terms of their water resources, whereas trans-territorial cohesion refers to a social bond between different territories or neighboring communities within the hinterland of a particular qanat sharing the same water resource.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Under adaptation, I understand the collective ability to keep pace with the changing environmental possibilities through a set of measures, which are taken or the techniques, which are changeably used by the members of a particular local community.

  2. 2.

    Qanat consists of some shaft wells interconnected by a subterranean tunnel that drains out the groundwater seepage and conveys it onto the earth surface using the height difference between the two ends of the tunnel.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UNESCO ICQHS, Yazd, Iran

    Majid Labbaf Khaneiki

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  1. Majid Labbaf Khaneiki
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Correspondence to Majid Labbaf Khaneiki .

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Labbaf Khaneiki, M. (2020). Hydro-social Cohesion. In: Cultural Dynamics of Water in Iranian Civilization. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58900-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58900-4_4

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