%0 Journal Article 
%A Pérez Ramos, María Isabel
%T The water apocalypse: Venice desert cities and utopian arcologies in southwestern dystopian fiction

%D 2016
%@ 2171-9594
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10017/27301
%X Numerous  stories  have  and  are  being  written  in  both  fiction  and  non-fiction  about  the  future  of the United States’ Southwest; and nearly always that future is considered to be closely linked to the vicissitudes of water. In a multidisciplinary  work  that combines ecocriticism,  environmental history, and decolonial     theories,     this     paper     analyzesthe     socio-technological     complexities     behind     water (mis)management  in  the  Southwest  with  a  focus  on  urban  environments,  and  their  socio-environmental consequences. A lush sprawl development called ‘Venice’ is proposed in Arizona in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead(1991). In the same line, Chicano author Rudolfo Anaya presents struggles over water rights  and  plans for turning Albuquerque into a ‘desert Venice’city  in  his  novel Alburquerque(1992). Fictional  plans  like  these  become  very  real  when one  reads  the  posts  and  news  about  the  water-demanding Santolina sprawl development currently proposed for Albuquerque’s West side. On another note, Paolo Bacigalupi’s last novel, The  Water  Knife(2015)  presents  arcologies  (self-contained,  self-sufficient buildings) as an option to escape what he perceives will be a hellish region when climate change worsens    and    water    underground    levels    are    eventually    depleted.    Migration,    xenophobia    and environmental  re-adaptation  then  become  central  issues  to  consider.  A  nuanced  decolonial  analysis  of these dystopian  narratives calls into question current decision-making around water management in the Southwest through the perspectives of these authors. If one argues that the environmental degradation of the  arid  Southwest is  partly  a  consequence  of  the  cultural  oppression  of  the  native  local  inhabitants,  by imposing an inappropriate socio-environmental culture and ethics over the region, dystopian novels such as these become all the more relevant when proposing alternative futures.

%K Water
%K Management
%K Arcologies
%K Desert Venice
%K Dystopia
%K Ethics
%K Agua
%K Gestión
%K Arcologías
%K Venecia del desierto
%K Distopía
%K Ética
%K Literatura
%K Literature
%K Medio ambiente
%K Environmental science
%~ Biblioteca Universidad de Alcala