Uneven Geographies of the Embodied Effects of Water Insecurity Among Women Irrigators in Northern Ghana

The linkages between water insecurity and human health have been of long-standing research interest to geographers, especially those studying the human-environment dimensions of health. This article contributes to this scholarship by demonstrating how insecure access to irrigation water produces differentiated bodily effects for women. Data for the article come from empirical field work using interviews, focus group discussions, drone-based participatory mapping, and community validation workshops. Grounded in the literature on embodiment and intersectional feminist political ecology and through the firsthand experiences of women and their struggles to secure irrigation water, the article makes two main contributions. First, it demonstrates how drones could be innovatively integrated into qualitative and political ecology field work to better understand human-environment interactions. Second, it shows that space and time are critical to understanding the differentiated embodied experiences of water insecurity. More specifically, different irrigators experience different bodily effects depending on where their irrigated fields are located. Compared to women with plots near irrigation canals, the article shows that those with plots further afield experience more debilitating pains in the limbs, waist, and hips as they struggle to secure water. Overall, the article's findings highlight how the uneven geographies of access to irrigation water warrant closer attention by scholars studying hydrosocial relations and health.