Reflections in a Canal-2017

O'Neill, Brian

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/99721 Copy

Description

Title

Reflections in a Canal-2017

Author(s)

O'Neill, Brian

Issue Date

2018-04

Keyword(s)

Sociology

Abstract

An image of research may take a variety of visual subjects. As a sociologist, my subjects are people. However, even in an image without them, something about society can be learned. This image was taken from a canal bed during my fieldwork on water management in the American Southwest. On the one hand, the image shows a physical reality-arid land with no water. However, the foreground of cracked earth and dead branches frames another reality-the human imagination. The drawing was made by kids who had never seen a river flow. When there is surplus, water flows freely in the canal and school programs come to see it. They conduct basic water quality tests with the help of local water agencies. The drawing is a mix of what they saw, and what they hoped it could be-a living river ecosystem. As I continue my research, I keep coming back to this image. The drawing is reminiscent of a petroglyph in many ways. I think of water scarcity and its effects. I recall the cracked earth and concrete. “There is no coming back from what we have done,” my informant explained, “but we’ll have a flowing stream one day.”

Type of Resource

• text
• image

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/99721

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2018 Brian O'Neill

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