Covering Ground: Communal Water Management and the State in the Peruvian Highlands

Covering Ground is a comparative study of irrigation systems in the Colca valley of Peru that seeks to explain the relations among household, community, and state. According to David W. Guillet, it seems apparent that these spheres depend upon one another for their existence. Since water management is essential in this semi-arid region, it is important to try to understand how it functions as well as to articulate the principles on which the relationships among the different levels operate. Covering Ground is the first detailed ethnographic account of an Andean water management system. It will be of interest to students and scholars in several fields, including anthropology, history, archaeology, economics, and political science.