Water in Azraq (Jordan): a fluid link between state and society

Abstract

Azraq, a rural village in north-eastern Jordan, was once famous for its luxurious marshes and wetlands but today is starved of water. This paper looks at the role of water as a crucial medium in the definition and consolidation of contemporary relations between the Jordanian government and Azraq’s inhabitants. Essentially, this article approaches water as a relational medium through which power manifests itself in the processes of access, distribution and utilisation. The article argues that putting this relationship and the power that flows through it in an historical context allows for a better understanding of people’s contemporary interactions with water in the intimacy of the domestic sphere.