Mujeres de agua y ley

A quick update - I had two productive meetings today in Albuqueruque. First, I met Melanie Stansbury, a Cornell grad student who is finishing up a doctoral dissertation on the Aamodt settlement; it sounds fascinating, and it also has an applied, conflict-resolution story to tell about why it took so long for the OSE, the Pueblos, and the "non-Pueblos" to finally get along in some sort of tentative draft settlement. Although not technically finalized, the state reps and senators are on to seeking funding for the 'federal solution' to Aamodt.
Second, I met with author and anthropology Sylvia Rodriguez, who wrote one of the two seminal texts on acequias (Acequia, SAR Press - Santa Fe - 2006). While slowly starting to re-pack and de-content her anthropology office, Sylvia is moving into the Alfonso Ortiz Center to guide future participatory action research projects through UNM and other interested parties in the local and regional community. I then had time to peruse the archives at the Southwest Center, including a long annotated bibliography on acequias by Nancy Hanks (I think a former student of Dick Nostrand at OU-Geography), and some reading time on the train back to S.Fe to read through Em Hall's "High and Dry" (UNM Presss, ABQ, 2002), an account of New Mexico v. Texas, and the near-tragicomic story of the Pecos River. Next time in ABQ, I must go visit with Em. All for now...

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