Comparative irrigation studies: the Órbigo Valley of Spain and the Colca Valley of Perú

Abstract

The relation between irrigation and human organization has provided a test of severa] theoretical paradigms in anthropology and related social sciences. Today, scholars have turned their attention to questions surrounding the rather large residue of irrigation systems tending to be small in scale, indigenous and long-lasting, and local in scope and in knowledge. The issues that guide scholarly inquiry on irrigation and human organization concern the social and political forms which organization for irrigation leads, the forces behind their emergence, and the relation between water management and household production. The sustainability and potential for intensification of water management systems is of particular import today as demo­graphic growth increases the need to feed growing populations