The construction of Kariba Dam in 1958 ignited a legacy of livelihood insecurity and chronic liminality that reverberated through subsequent generations. A community under one chief was split into two marginal resettlement sites more than 200 km apart. Sixty years after the dam’s construction, and following a series of cyclical shifts between access to and alienation from international development programming, the World Bank has returned to initiate the new Bottom Road, which at last reconnects these two communities. It has also released funds for a new irrigation development and support program. Research presented here suggests that, while the Bottom Road is spurring economic growth, it is also delivering capitalized outsiders, eager to claim land and water resources from long-resident Gwembe Tonga farmers. Analysis of two commercial agriculture/irrigation schemes, at the road’s southern and northern terminuses, reveals that new infrastructure often leads to rapid natural resource alienation and livelihood upheaval. Integrating the lens of chronic liminality with the hydrosocial cycle, we situate these projects within a broader regional history of land and water privatization and reveal how water-linked development interventions produce vulnerabilities for particular segments of the local population.

中文翻译：

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河流和道路：赞比亚格温贝谷流离失所，发展和长期犯罪的政治生态

1958年Kariba大坝的建造点燃了民生不安全感和长期自由化的遗产，并在后代产生了影响。一个酋长领导下的一个社区被分为两个相距200多公里的边缘安置点。大坝建设六十年后，在获取和撤消国际发展规划之间的一系列周期性转变之后，世界银行已返回以启动新的底路，该路最终将这两个社区重新连接起来。它还为新的灌溉开发和支持计划发放了资金。此处提出的研究表明，尽管“底路”在刺激经济增长的同时，也正在为资本化的外部人提供服务，他们渴望向长期居住的Gwembe汤加农民索要土地和水资源。对这条道路的南端和北端的两种商业化农业/灌溉计划的分析表明，新的基础设施通常会导致自然资源快速异化和生计剧变。将长期犯罪的镜头与水社会循环相结合，我们将这些项目置于更广泛的土地和水私有化区域历史中，并揭示与水有关的发展干预措施如何为当地特定人群产生脆弱性。