Location: Humanities Conference Room in Williams Hall 623

We are often told that the water crisis is a crisis of governance crisis. I argue that it is also a crisis of narratives and imagination: water professionals often lack the capacity to elaborate and appreciate alternative ways of understanding and managing water. Building on action research with journalists and scientists in the Nile basin, I will discuss how storytelling through different media – video, podcast, photography – can be mobilized to imagine and nurture new water communities.

Emanuele Fantinie is senior lecturer and researcher in water governance and communication at the IHE Delft Institute of International Water Education. He is an accomplished podcaster in English and Italian. He is the coordinator of a large-scale action research project with journalists and researchers on the role of media and science communication in water conflicts and cooperation in the Nile, Brahmaputra and Lake Chad basins. Check out NilePop for a sample of his work.