The Affects of Water—The Materialized Morality of Wells, Pipes, and Pumps in Tarawa, Kiribati

Drawing on fieldwork among development practitioners and villagers on Tarawa, in the Pacific Island nation Kiribati, I examine sociomaterial enactments of water from three different technologies: the well, the pipe, and the pump. I show how water technologies are embedded in moral worlds by exploring the affective relationship between people and water. In an island nation where freshwater resources are scarce, contaminated, and a significant political and social concern, I demonstrate that people still struggle with and contest the moral dimensions of water technologies.