Open Rivers is currently inviting proposals for our 2025 issue on Rights, Conflict, and Water. Water is vital for people in myriad ways: drinking, cultural practices, food sources, industrial and agricultural practices, sanitation services, and more. The United Nations (UN) recognizes the human right to water and sanitation, but not everyone has equal access to safe, clean water, both because of ecological variables and because of sociopolitical conditions. Whether unable to find adequate water or unable to access culturally specific waters, these inequities create disputes and upheaval. As freshwater supplies are depleted, contaminated, or made inaccessible, tensions around water grow. Climate change will only intensify these problematic water conditions and result in more challenges and conflicts.
Intersections of Water Rights and Conflicts
Open Rivers seeks contributions that foreground the complexities and intersections of water rights and water conflicts. How is the right to water enacted in different contexts? How do “rights” and practices reciprocally inform each other? How are water rights allocated? How is water mobilized in sociopolitical practices and how is it weaponized? How does water contribute to larger social discord? How can our sociopolitical structures facilitate better relationships with people and place? What do we learn about water rights and conflicts from history? From art? And what are the rights of water itself?
We invite proposals from scholars, activists, artists, professionals, policymakers, community members, scientists, and practitioners who offer insight on rights, conflicts, and water broadly conceived. We encourage prospective authors to share work that furthers our understandings of the intersections of ecological and sociopolitical systems. We aim to publish content that will provoke thoughtful reflection, meaningful action, and ongoing public discussion.
Possible themes for submission may include:
- Cooperative management of water resources
- Water-sharing agreements
- Transboundary water disputes
- Militarization or weaponization of water
- Rights of nature claims, practices, and campaigns related to water
- Water insecurities that erupt as social and political conflict
- Historical water conflicts
- Environmental histories of places with water-stress or complex water rights and practices
- Water access during COVID-19
- Impacts of water stress on public health and sanitation services
- UN Sustainable Development Goals and rights to water
- Ecological and climatological conditions contributing to water stress and sociopolitical tensions
- Experiences of women, children, LGBTQ, and gender nonconforming people in situations of water conflicts
- Work at the intersection of water rights, crises, conflicts, and BIPOC communities
- Analysis of water and ecological conditions as contributors to larger conflicts
Submission Process
To submit a proposal for consideration for this issue of Open Rivers, please prepare a short abstract (250 words or fewer) and complete the form at z.umn.edu/OpenRiversRights. A committee will review the submissions and we will contact you within about a month of the submission deadline with more information. Before submitting, please review our submission guidelines and descriptions of our column types.
Deadlines for Abstract Submissions
For feature articles (without peer review, 3,000-5,000 words) and columns (1,000-2,000 words): rolling deadline accepting submissions until 6 months before publication in 2025
We are no longer accepting proposals for peer-reviewed articles.
If you have any questions, please contact us at openrvrs@umn.edu.