Abstract

Water is currently Lesotho’s largest export, collected by two major dams and sent to South Africa under controversial treaties. This talk describes how people’s relationships to water are altered by its commodification within development initiatives. It explains how, in the case of Lesotho, the alleged need for GDP growth has justified forced relocations for dam construction, fractured kin relations, and ignored how water is far more than a “resource.”

Bio
Kefiloe Sello is a PhD Candidate in Environmental Humanities from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, who has conducted both extensive research and policy work on water issues in Lesotho. She is currently an AUFF visiting PhD student at the AU Centre for Environmental Humanities (CEH).