“TOO MUCH” SAND, NOT WATER: A Geostory of Himalayan Riverine Sediments as “Problem”

Abstract

This article examines how a future about surplus sand entered river-engineering vocabulary as an obstruction to the free flow of Himalayan river systems. It is a historical and ethnographic analysis of sand’s conceptualization as a catastrophic material that caused rivers to spill over, which became conducive to its removal from rivers for economic endeavors. Sand holds a unique place in society, it’s the foundation on which roads, bridges, and buildings are built. Today, a shortage of these sediment particles has been described as a moment of economic and environmental crisis. Against the grain of sand’s desirability and shortage as a resource material, I pay close attention to the destructive articulations of the Himalayan earthly forces that made the political economy of extracting excess sand possible. [catastrophe; economy; engineering; geology; Himalayan rivers; politics; sediments]