Problematising Water

An Experiment on the Edges of Interdisciplinarity
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-01876-6
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 146 Seiten, Format (B × H): 138 mm x 216 mm

Reihe: Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies

Problematising Water is a manifestation of thinking with water across a range of disciplines including human geography, sociology, anthropology, science and technology studies, and ethnomethodology.

In this book, Vitellone reveals the alliances between Foucault’s concept of problematisation and a new methodological approach for water focused research, as seen through her study of London’s #OneLess refill water fountain pilot, an intervention to reduce plastic bottled water.  Situating the refill water fountain as a problematic space for collaborating with marine scientists, practitioners and publics engaged in the making and doing of refill, the book discusses how Foucault’s notion of problematisation forces a re-thinking of knowledge-making practices in environmental research on water. It also synthesises a large body of literature by key thinkers, including Bruno Latour, Isabel Stengers, Wendy Ballestero, Astrida Neimanis, Noortge Marres, Gay Hawkins, Andrew Barry, Mike Michael and others, and links to current debates across a variety of disciplines.

Problematising Water is a timely and provocative intervention in debates around the climate crisis and environmental interventions and the role that different research methods and objects play within them. It will be of value to science and technology scholars, social scientists, natural scientists, and academics interested in the environmental humanities.

Zielgruppe

Academic and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Vitellone, Nicole

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction – How to think, research and write with water: a problematological turn

1. Thinking problematically with the water fountain

2. Probing problematisation in the climate and plastics crises

3. Loitering as a method of interdisciplinary research

4. Sociography of a curious object

5. Using ethnomethodology to make sense of the #OneLess refill water fountain pilot

Über Autor(innen)

Nicole Vitellone is AF Warr Senior Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Law and Social Justice and Co-Director of Centre for Health, Arts, Society & Environment (CHASE) at the University of Liverpool.