![Sample our Communication Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, 2013 & 2014 volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5927/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Information-Science2.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This essay explores the conflicting discourses circulated ‘on the ground’ in rural West Bengal regarding blame, water, and health. We take a culture-centered approach that builds on environmental health communication literature through qualitative research with health workers and rural community members living with arsenicosis. Local discourses about structural dilemmas and water as savior/medicine reveal important practical and cultural considerations to water contamination solutions in West Bengal. This study makes three key contributions. First, we illuminate how empowerment discourses reinforce neoliberal and lifestyle theories of health while concealing important realities connected to water contamination and water access. Second, we demonstrate how cultural discourses of water as a savior disrupt Eurocentric health narratives and argue for free, decommodified water. Third, we argue that the narratives based on people’s lived illness experiences could be used to foster solidarity with healthcare workers and should be the basis of practical solutions to create water access.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Long-term exposure to arsenic-laced water ranging leads to arsenicosis or chronic arsenic poisoning (Chakraborti et al., Citation2018).
2 During Parameswari’s MA thesis fieldwork, prior to conducting interviews with arsenicosis-affected participants, she inquired about their names, reciprocating by sharing hers and introducing herself. Being from West Bengal, Parameswari inferred participants’ religious affiliations based on their first and last names. However, discussions regarding caste (which can often be difficult to understand from names) and religion did not emerge organically during these interactions.