Conceiving the Mekong Delta as a living body; exploring different delta-making practices. Issue 131 (May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Umans, Laurent
• Is Part Of: Geoforum. Issue 131(2022)
• Page Start: 61
• Page End: 68
• Publication Date: 2022-05
• Subjects: Delta -- Practice -- Care -- Mekong -- System -- Body; Geography -- Periodicals; Human geography -- Periodicals; Regional planning -- Periodicals; Sciences de la terre -- Périodiques; Géographie -- Périodiques; Géographie humaine -- Périodiques; Aménagement du territoire -- Périodiques; Earth sciences; Geography; Human geography; Regional planning; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 304.205
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0016-7185

Abstract

Highlights: Practices are constellations of doings, sayings, things and conceptions on nature. In the Mekong Delta the exploitation practice is pervasive. The management practice is emerging as a sustainable and resilient alternative. A third practice is deltacare in which delta and people are intimately connected. Each delta-making practice relates to the others and synergy is possible. Abstract: Worldwide deltas are important spaces which are shaped differently through different delta-making practices. The Mekong Delta is a space shaped by three practices. Firstly, the delta exploitation practice which encompasses various forms of exploitation of the delta's resources, engineering as well as 'divide and rule' governance. Concerns regarding sustainable development and climate resilience resulted in the emergency of a delta management practice. The Mekong Delta is conceived as a socio-eco-technological system that needs to be wisely managed in an integrated, adaptive way, while 'living with nature'. A third practice is based on the Mekong Delta being a living body. The delta has bodily features and its water bodies give life to nature, crops and people. Its liveliness and life-giving capabilities shape the human-delta relation as mutual caretaking. This deltacare practice is an affective entanglement to sustain life and health. The protagonists of different practices can enter into dialogues to seek complementarities and to develop untapped potentialities.