Dividing New Mexico's waters, 1700-1912

Description

Originally published in 1972, this pioneering book has become a classic in visual anthropology. Worth and Adair set out to answer the question, What would happen if someone from a culture that makes and uses motion pictures taught people who have never made or used motion pictures to do so for the first time? They taught filmmaking and editing to a group of six Navajos in Pine Springs, Arizona. This book explains what happened, what they and the Navajos said and thought about what happened, and how they analyzed the films in a cultural context. The films, still available for rent, are described in detail and illustrated with still photographs, giving the reader an opportunity to see through the eyes of people from a different cultural background. Richard Chalfen, a research assistant on the original project in 1966, has updated the book with a thorough discussion of the importance of the Navajo project and a critical assessment of the reactions to it. He has included a new section of references and an appendix offering answers to the ten most frequently asked questions about the project.

Description

Surveyed in this book are two centuries of struggles over water rights. Most conflicts have occurred when someone suddenly seized and redirected the flow of water away from another user. Usually disputes were resolved through an appeal process, but these often followed ditch-bank fights punctuated by blows from shovels. Throughout the colonial period, access to water was a local issue and centered on maintaining the community acequia or ditch. Then beginning in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, competition for water intensified. Community-based decision-making gave way to district court hearings and the emergence of new legal principles - all arising out of claims advanced by those seeking large-scale irrigation development. In 1907 control was given to an appointed water engineer in a new legislative code, which still remains the foundation of water law in New Mexico.

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