Paul Trawick’s excellent analysis of irrigation relations in a small area of the central Peruvian Andes provides valuable conclusions for irrigation systems throughout the world, as well as insightful findings for the culture history of the Andes from Inca times until 1990. This is a model of historical and anthropological research written with exceptional clarity.
Trawick describes a great variety of irrigation practices in one relatively small region, based on 1986–90 fieldwork in the Cotahuasi Valley of Peru. He sorts out the climatological, meteorological, political, historical, social, and cultural factors that play into irrigation relationships and dynamics. He successfully identifies the significant factors and avoids simplistic conclusions. The author presents his complex argument in a clear manner and discusses his findings in an organized fashion. Rejecting simplistic and short-sighted explanations of water crises, Trawick argues for the social necessity of maintaining a moral order in irrigation. In this case, that...
