Dr. David Pietz was recently awarded the 2016 Cecil B. Currey Book Award from the Association of Global South Studies for his book The Yellow River: The Problem of Water in Modern China. The Association of Global South Studies is the largest professional organization of its kind in the world, with a global membership and chapters in South Asia and Africa. Members include academics, practitioners in the area of Third World development, employees of government agencies, and diplomats who reside in the U.S. and 21 other countries around the globe.
The Yellow River is an exploration into the sources of China’s contemporary water crisis, mapping the confluence of historical forces that have shaped China’s current water challenges. The book shows how Maoist water practices from 1949 to 1976 cast a long shadow over the reform period, beginning in 1978. Rapid urban growth, industrial expansion, and agricultural intensification over the past three decades of China’s economic boom have been realized on a water resource base that was already acutely compromised, with effects that have been more difficult and costly to overcome with each passing decade.
Congratulations, Dr. Pietz!