Abstract:
This research uses a case study approach to examine how water is understood in the home. Previous research has drawn attention to binary conceptualisations of water and society. In particular, previous research has focussed on socio-natures produced through city development. But, little attention has been given to everyday water and how socio-natures are produce in the home. I use cultural and performativity approaches to examine the stories of performances, cultures and socio-natures. Participants from Auckland, New Zealand kept water diaries, photo diaries and were subsequently interviewed to elucidate mundane water practices and their meanings. Narrative analysis of the data focused on emergent ideas, emotions, and thoughts. The results show that narratives around urban water are contradictory. Sustainability implemented through technology is contentious. Regulatory bodies define sustainability as water saving which is the population’s responsibility. This use of sustainability is designed to protect “Big Water” systems and ignore the “little waters” that exist in homes. However, resistances are also revealed and demonstrate how sustainability in the everyday encompasses a sustaining of emotions, values and cultures. As a result doing sustainability and the concept sustainability are conflicting. The findings also reveal geographies of familiarity. Constructing familiarity occurs through excluding unwanted nature where only controlled nature is allowed in the home. The home is shown to enable a knowing of the world. Embodied familiarity enacts subjectivities through bodily experiences. This also extends to the garden; here people immerse themselves in a nature that is familiar. However nature cannot always be controlled. Uncontrolled socionatures subvert the binary between society and nature by making the familiar, unfamiliar. These uncontrolled socio-natures create feelings of unfamiliarity and anxiety. This thesis demonstrates the socio-natures that are constantly emerging through mundane practices and cultures. This enables water to be considered an actor and opens new possibilities to how urban water is managed, understood and conceptualised.