Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2018

"Rivers Don't Abide By the Laws of War": The Water Utilities Company Voda Donbasu in the Cross-Border "Warscape" of Eastern Ukraine

Sophie Lambroschini

Résumé

This paper presents some preliminary research based on ethnographic fieldwork in Donbas on how infrastructure and the people running it are affected by the conflict. The frontline in eastern Ukraine separating government-controlled territories from those under the rule of the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk (LPR/DPR) shattered many economic and infrastructure networks. In this sense, the local water distribution network is a partial exception. Technically, it can't be broken up along military borders and has been operating across the frontline since the war began in May 2014 to provide drinking water and heating. 3.8 million people rely on this fragile balance involving cooperation and politics. The workers of Voda Donbasu, the local water utilities company, are the object of this case study about the dynamics of persistence and change in social interactions in the context of system collapse. How do they adapt and accommodate the "war factor" in their daily and professional and make the water flow in face of disruptions caused by war?

1 name changed 2 precise population figures do not exist due to the large in-and out-flow of people near the contact line. 3 Its location just a few kilometers west of Donetsk and its airport made it a strategic object. Occupied by secessionist forces in May-June 2014, it was under fire for many months until after the Minsk cesafire agreement of 2015.

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hal-04780975 , version 1 (13-11-2024)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04780975 , version 1

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Sophie Lambroschini. "Rivers Don't Abide By the Laws of War": The Water Utilities Company Voda Donbasu in the Cross-Border "Warscape" of Eastern Ukraine. Danilyw Seminar on Contemporary Ukraine, Chair Of Ukrainian Studies, Ottawa University, Nov 2018, Ottawa, Canada. ⟨hal-04780975⟩
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