Chandra Mukerji: Impossible engineering. Technology and territoriality on the Canal du Midi
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: I have always been fascinated by canals.Whenever I have the opportunity, which is usually during holidays, I visit canals and their remarkable features like locks, aqueducts, or sluices.Looking at these lines and structures in the landscape, one cannot but wonder about the people building them, empowered by them or simply influenced by them.I have seen many canals and their monuments, for example in the United Kingdom (the great locks at Devizes or the impressive aqueduct at Llangollen), Spain (the locks in the Canal de Castilla), and in France (the small, but really nice Canal de Lalinde).I like to read about canals, but I love to see and experience them within their landscape, with their material properties, and foremost with flowing water.Well, Chandra Mukerji made me see and experience the Canal du Midi in the Languedoc, Southern France with her recent book.She writes the book as if you are present, at the construction site, at the political negotiations, when things go right, and when they went wrong.A fascinating story.And an important one, as the book discusses in detail how these large-scale projects are related to issues of power, knowledge, and money.The Canal de Midi was built at the end of the seventeenth century, its' official opening was in 1680.It was an immense operation to link the Mediterranean Sea and the Garonne River and with that to the Atlantic.The canal would allow quick movement of the French army as well as stimulate commercial transportation.It could only be realized because strong individuals were pushing and supporting it: Pierre-Paul Riquet, with his ambition to build the canal and earn great wealth, power, and recognition; Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French minister of both the treasury and the navy; and Louis XIV himself.For these men, and the many others who were related to the canal, struggling with the canal and each other was worth it as it should result in stronger social positions, each in their own way.The book is about these struggles and how they should be understood.In her analysis, Mukerji employs and stresses two different ways to exercise power, and uses different terms for these.She speaks of personal versus impersonal rule, patronage versus stewardship, the power of the King versus political territoriality.In my own words, she discusses how the Canal du Midi as an enterprise should not be understood as the expression
Source: Water History
Author: Maurits W. Ertsen
Institution: Delft University of Technology
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,090
OpenAlex ID: W2171472449