Akiwumi finds water solutions with cultural relevance

Fenda Akiwumi, a Texas State alumna and a professor of geography at the University of South Florida, is studying ways to make water more accessible to rural villages in Africa through her work with UNESCO and the National Science Foundation. Her work integrates the scientific study of water resource management and local community views of water resources.

“Water is life itself and a human right. So it is critical that we understand that people view water in different ways,” Akiwumi says.

After working for the government of Sierra Leone for 14 years, Akiwumi earned her PhD in environmental geography from Texas State University-San Marcos. Her doctoral work at Texas State looked at water resources management, through social, cultural and political lenses.

“I saw that in traditional settings, water has major spiritual and social dimensions,” Akiwumi says. “A river might be a sacred site where rituals have taken place for generations, or it might be a social setting for women. Modern Western approaches view water as an economic good. A hydrogeologist decides where the best place is for a well based on scientific and engineering reasons, but in reality, that might not be the best place at all for the people.

“Inevitably, the failure of water projects in the rural areas could be attributed to differences in water culture.”

Read the full story from the University of South Florida.