Thirst

Takes the reader on a spectacular and comprehensive journey through the ways celebrities, charities, corporations, and communities engage with the water crisis. It is an essential book that sparks critical reflection and inspires action. – Farhana Sultana, Professor of Geography and the Environment, Syracuse UniversityA great and truly original book about the world’s water condition. But it is much more than that. Menga dives into the forces that make and shape capitalism today. It is both an eye-opener and a call to act. – Erik Swyngedouw, Professor of Geography, University of ManchesterWarns of the dangers of charity-focussed philanthrocapitalism and corporate-led environmental governance. – Lyla Mehta, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development StudiesFrom micro-loans backed by big finance to running marathons to fund new water projects, Thirst details how the spirit of capitalism seeks - but fails to find - redemption through an industry of water charities and the celebrity priesthood that fronts them. – Jeremy Schmidt, author of Water: Abundance, Scarcity, and Security in the Age of HumanityThirst develops a provocative critique of mainstream analyses of the ‘global water crisis’ by demonstrating how capital thrives on apocalyptic predictions. By focusing on celebrities, corporate philanthropy, and NGOs, Menga provides an original account of how the idea of a global water crisis has generated a distinct cultural politics of neoliberal capitalism that parasitically extends to everyday life. – Maria Rusca, Lecturer in Global Development, Global Development Institute, University of ManchesterShows how a neoliberal version of charity and philanthropy feeds on our emotionsto elicit donations that further uphold, and validate, a market-based solutionism that remains unchallenged. This is a much-needed unpacking of how capitalism generates, but also absorbs and thrives on, the global water crisis. – François Molle, Director of Research at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement

Filippo Menga is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Bergamo, Italy and Associate Editor of the journal Political Geography. His research draws predominantly on political ecology, political geography, and critical geography to advance an innovative approach to the study of water politics. He has published articles on these topics in a wide range of academic journals, including Political Geography, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, Geoforum, the Journal of Political Ecology, Development and Change, Nationalities Papers, and Water Alternatives. He is the author of Power and Water in Central Asia (Routledge), and co-editor (with Erik Swyngedouw), of Water, Technology and the Nation-State (Earthscan). Prior to joining the University of Bergamo in 2021, he held research and teaching positions at the Universities of Reading and Manchester. In 2018 he was awarded the Scopus Early Career Researcher UK Award 2018 (Elsevier/US-UK Fulbright Commission) in recognition of outstanding research in Social Sciences.