Inclusive recognition politics and the struggle over hydrosocial territories in two Bolivian highland communities

This article applies a multi-scalar approach to examine the dominant human--nature interactions that underlie recent formalization policies and the (re)configuration of hydrosocial territories in the Tiraque Valley, Bolivia. From a political ecology perspective, it seeks to examine how hydrosocial territories are (re)configured by Bolivia’s representative and inclusive discourses and forms of water ‘governmentalities’. It analyses how water territories are locally materialized by technological designs, legal structures and power relations that may promote unequal distribution of resources, water rights and decision-making power in conflict resolution processes. This article challenges ‘pro-indigenous’ and inclusive discourses that promote formal recognition of customary ‘water territories’.