The Agency of Water and the Canal du Midi

Hydraulic infrastructures, particularly water management systems, can serve as powerful tools for shaping social relations and mediating power dynamics. The Canal du Midi, a 240-kilometer navigational canal built between 1663 and 1684 in Languedoc, France, exemplifies this phenomenon. Authorized by Louis XIV, the project involved state-led land acquisition from local nobles and significantly altered daily life, including transport, manufacturing, and agricultural practices. The study highlights how water's agential properties—its independent influence on social possibilities—can both facilitate human control through engineering and challenge governance when it defies expectations, such as flooding or evading containment. This dual nature of water underscores its role in legitimizing impersonal rule while also posing challenges to territorial governance.

Mukerji, C. (2021). The Agency of Water and the Canal du Midi. Hydrohumanities: Water Discourse and Environmental Futures, 23–41. https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.115.d