John Wagner

I am an environmental anthropologist situated on the UBC Okanagan campus. I have been studying water governance issues in the Okanagan Valley and the Columbia River Basin since 2004, focusing especially on the role of agriculture in water governance systems. I am currently working with other UBC Okanagan researchers, multi-media artists and community partners on the Water Ways project, a study of water in the Okanagan Valley that will culminate in a museum exhibition in 2021. I also conduct research in Papua New Guinea and am currently collaborating with other researchers and the Kala Language Committee on a language documentation project focused on Kala knowledge of their aquatic environment. I have edited two volumes on water issues, The Social Life of Water (2013), which provides global coverage of selected water issues from a political ecology perspective, and most recently, Island Rivers (2019), which is focused on the cultural meaning of freshwater for diverse Pacific Island communities.