Balinese “Water Temples” and the Management of Irrigation
Abstract
Bali has figured prominently in debates on the question of whether irrigation centralizes state power. New evidence shows that irrigation is actually organized by networks of “water temples” that constitute an institutional system separate from the state. Earlier attempts to identify a discrete system of irrigation management misconceived the problem. For most crops, irrigation simply provides water for the plant's roots. But in a Balinese rice terrace, water is used to construct a complex, pulsed artificial ecosystem. Water temples manipulate the states of the system, at ascending levels in regional hierarchies. The permanence of water temple networks contrasts sharply with the instability of the traditional Balinese states. Since the water temples are real, perhaps it is the Balinese “state” that is chimerical.
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There are many examples of cultural ecosystem services arising from ditches, including traditional practices around the governance of irrigation systems around the world.
“There are also many examples of cultural ecosystem services arising from ditches, including traditional practices around the governance of irrigation systems around the world 77,[81][82][83] .”
From Lines in the landscape (2025) · cites this paper as [81]
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- Authors
- Lansing, J. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern California (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lansing, J. Stephen
- ORCID
- Lansing, J. Stephen
- Venue
- American Anthropologist
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1987-06
- Volume
- 89
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 326-341
- ISSN
- 0002-7294 (ISSN-L)
- 1548-1433
- OpenAlex
- W2134198808
- Cited by
- 272
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 9.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Anthropologist (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Archaeology and Natural History
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Water Governance and Infrastructure
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Water management and technologies
- Keywords
- irrigation management, state power, non-state institutions, water governance, regional hierarchy, artificial ecosystems, state formation, Bali
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