Water as A Biopolitical Actant
Abstract
Drawing from the hydrofeminist perspective proposed by Astrida Neimanis this contribution assumes the Po River as the subject of its practice of care and calls for a recognition of its ecological rights as body of water. To do so, the reflection questions the persistence of policies that reduce water to a mere resource – measurable, scalable, thus controllable and productive – thereby translating ecological risk into a renewed form of capital expansion. The great renaturation plan of the Po River will be the paradigmatic case and object of this critique.
Submitted: March 25, 2026 | Accepted: May 27, 2026 | Published Aug. 6, 2026 | Language: en
Keywords River as a subject • Po River • Hydrofeminism • Biopolitics • Water bodies
Copyright © 2026 Davide Montanari. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.