Introduktion
With a MA degree in Visual Anthropology and a PhD in Human Geography, I started in 2011 as a Post-Doctor in Peace and Conflict Studies with focus on hydropolitics in the Middle East at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Lund University. I have extensive experience of 16 years working as a social scientist, international development practitioner, consultant and documentary filmmaker. My specific interests are in political ecology, political psychology, resource conflicts, environmental peacebuilding, sustainable development, natural resource management, water, biodiversity and the interaction between people and the environment. My current work focuses on regional hydropolitics and local level case studies of communities living near disputed borders in the Jordan River Basin specifically Israel, Syria and Palestine. In my theoretical framework, I revisit neoliberalism and rational choice as theoretical approaches to water management & peace by developing an analytical framework to deconstruct colonial-logics in resource conflicts. My objective is to explore the impact of hydropolitics and hydrohegemony at local level and investigate cognitive dimensions of decisionmaking in Transboundary Water Management (TWM) focusing on ecological peacebuilding, perception of Self and the other, and the human ecosystem approach. Methodologically I am interested in the use of qualitative methods, film and other innovative qualitative and participatory methods such as serious gaming. In 1996 I graduated with a Master of Arts in Cultural and Visual Anthropology (ethnographic film) from the University of Leiden. My fieldwork and research dealt with health education and intercultural communication processes within the framework of a water & sanitation supply project for a refugee camp in Gedaref, Sudan. In 1997, I started working as a Junior Professional Officer (JPO) for the Dutch Development Directorate (DGIS) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I was posted at the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Aleppo, Syria. My work as regional JPO in Syria laid the basis for long term experience of conducting fieldwork and relevant research of high international quality and travel throughout the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. My PhD research in Development Studies for the University of Amsterdam (UvA) focused on local level dynamics of collective action for community water management in a Middle Eastern context, specifically of traditional water management systems in Syria. In 2008, I completed my PhD thesis entitled “To cooperate or not to cooperate …?” on local level community hydropolitics concerning ancient traditional water systems in Syria. Based on extensive anthropological fieldwork with traditional rural communities in the Syrian countryside, I have researched and described social and contextual dimensions of collective action at community level such as leadership and power, social history and inter-personal relations, the role of 3rd parties, local agency, initiators and mediators in conflict situations concerning shared water resources. My thesis was the first of its kind that was published with three film productions combining research with the use of filming as a method for resource & development studies. Having advised several different international projects on traditional irrigation practices and management, I am an UNESCO expert consultant in the rehabilitation of sustainable ancient water systems called Qanats throughout the MENA region. Furthermore I have served as an associate consultant/trainer in Media for Development for the Centre for International Development and Training (CIDT) at the University of Wolverhampton (UK) and the MUNDO Centre for Development at the University of Maastricht and associate consultant for the IRC-International Water and Sanitation Centre in Delft, The Netherlands. Prior to my current postdoc in Lund, I have also worked professionally as an independent environmental documentary filmmaker for international broadcasters such as Television trusat for the Environment, BBC World and Al Jazeera English. As filmmaker, I have been educated in Hilversum as a broadcast trainee with the Veronica Broadcasting Company (VOO). I also attended the UK Filmcouncil and ScriptFactory Digital Shorts Training Scheme at the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in London. Over the past years, I have worked on several publications that explore the possibility for peaceful cooperation through sustainable water management and produced popular scientific films for organisations such as UNESCO-IHP, the United Nations University (UNU) and for the EU-funded programme MEDA-Water and several other films related to the Middle East water and environmental crisis. In my capacity as professional filmmaker I specialised in social-environmental documentaries. My water related film work can be found on-line at the Water Channel.tv and YouTube. Most of my films are broadcast worldwide on BBC World and Al Jazeera English. Membership of International Studies Association (ISA), Peace and Conflict Studies in Anthropology (PACSA) and The Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI), UK. On-going Research Projects Hydropolitics in the Jordan River Basin, 2011-2013 [Post-Doc]
Senaste nyhetsblänkare
Visades från:
2013-03-25
Joshka Wessels intervjuas av Aljazeera (25/3), i ett reportage om Iraks uråldriga akvedukter och deras betydelse
Läs mer...
Visades från: 2012-11-01
Joshka Wessels har författat kapitlet Water Use and Rights (Middle East and North Africa) som ingår i den nyligen utgivna Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability 9/10: Afro-Eurasia: Assessing Sustainability Läs mer...
Visades från: 2012-10-29
Joshka Wessels diskuterar den kontroversielle nederländske politikern Geert Wilders besök i Malmö i Sydsvenskan, Aftonbladet, Skånska dagbladet och Metro Läs mer...
Visades från: 2012-10-25
Joshka Wessels intervjuades av Dagens Nyheter (24/10) för att diskutera den Nederländske partiledaren Geert Wilders besök i Malmö Läs mer...
Visades från: 2012-09-18
Utrikespolitiska föreningen (UPF) anordnar en paneldebatt om krisen i Syrien 19/9, kl. 19.30. Joshka Wessels från statsvetenskapliga institutionen ingår i panelen. Läs mer...
Visades från: 2012-07-21
Joshka Wessels skriver om situationen i Syrien i den holländska dagstidningen NRC (21/7
) Läs mer...
Visades från: 2012-07-20
Joshka Wessels publicerade artikeln How to save and protect the silent majority in Syria? i EMAJ Magazine (20/7) Läs mer...
Visades från: 2012-04-16
Joshka Wessels har skrivit kapitlet Groundwater and Qanats in Syria: Leadership, Ownership and Abandonment, som är en del av den nyligen publicerade antologin Water, Cultural Diversity, and Global Environmental Change (Springer) Läs mer...
Forskning
Forskningsprojekt
 |
Hydropolitics in the Jordan River Basin |
Medlem i följande tematiska forskningsgrupp(er)
 |
Mellanösternpolitik |
 |
Miljöpolitik |
 |
Politik och utveckling |
Senaste forskningsprodukter (max 2 år gamla)
(Fler poster kan förekomma i den universitetsgemensamma databasen LUP):
Joshka Wessels har författat kapitlet Water Use and Rights (Middle East and North Africa) som ingår i den nyligen utgivna Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability 9/10: Afro-Eurasia: Assessing Sustainability Läs mer...
Joshka Wessels har skrivit kapitlet Groundwater and Qanats in Syria: Leadership, Ownership and Abandonment, som är en del av den nyligen publicerade antologin Water, Cultural Diversity, and Global Environmental Change (Springer) Läs mer...
Undervisning
General teaching (20%) My current teaching focuses on political ecology, hydropolitics, resource conflicts, peacebuilding, sustainability & environment and media in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and film & photography as methodologies of social science and development research. I teach at intermediate, Bachelor and Master level. Next to my classroom teaching, I coordinate the audiovisual SVET-studio at the department of Political Science and facilitate audiovisual recordings of lectures, seminars by guest researchers, lecturers and students for on-line publication and distance learning. Apart from external guest lectures for which I am invited, I have taught at the following departments at Lund University since 2011: Department of Political Science Center for Middle Eastern Studies Graduate School Faculty of Social Sciences Lund University Master of Science Programme in International Development and Management (LUMID) Lund university Internet Institute (LUii)
Publikationslista
Monographs & books
Wessels J.I. (2011) Handbook for Sustainable Karez Renovation in North-Iraq, UNESCO- Iraq, Amman, Jordan, UNESCO (in press)
Wessels, J.I. (2008) TO COOPERATE OR NOT TO COOPERATE…? Collective action for rehabilitation of traditional water tunnel systems (qanats) in Syria, PhD Thesis, Vossiuspers UvA – Amsterdam University Press, Netherlands, ISBN 978-90-5629-518-9
Book Chapters
Wessels, J.I. (2012) Water Use and Rights (Middle East and North Africa) - Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability 9/10: Afro-Eurasia: Assessing Sustainability , Berkshire Publishing, USA, ISBN 978-1-933782-19-5
Wessels, J.I. (2012) Groundwater and qanats in Syria; Leadership, ownership and abandonment in “‘Water, Cultural Diversity, and Global Environmental Change: Emerging Trends, Sustainable Futures?’ by Johnston, B. R. et al (eds.), United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation-International Hydrological Programme, Springer Press, USA, ISBN 978-94-007-1773-2, pp. 149-163
Wessels, J.I. & Hoogeveen, R. (2008) Renovation of Byzantine Qanats in Syria as a Water Source for Contemporary Settlements in “Handbook of Regenerative Landscape Design “by R. France (ed.) Harvard University, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, USA, ISBN 978-0-8493-9188-0, pp. 237-263
Wessels, J.I. & R.J.A. Hoogeveen (2003) Renovation of Qanats in Syria in “Sustainable Management of Marginal Drylands; Application of Indigenous Knowledge for Coastal Drylands” by Zafar Adeel (ed.), United Nations University, Japan, ISBN 92-808-8011-X, pp. 168-189
Journal Articles
Wessels, J.I. (2009) Water Crisis in the Middle East: An Opportunity for New Forms of Water Governance and Peace, Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations , Seton Hall University, USA, Vol 10. No.2, ISSN 1538-6589, pp. 131-141
Wessels, J.I. (2005) Reviving Ancient Water Tunnels in the Desert – Digging for Gold ?, Journal of Mountain Science, Vol 2. No. 4, ISSN 1672-6316, pp 294-305.
Conference Papers
Wessels, J.I. (2012) The Jordan River Basin Game: Steps towards sustainable river management in an insecure and conflictuous basin, paper to be presented at Session 5 at the International Conference Tapping The Turn, Water’s social dimensions, Canberra University, 15-16 November, 2012, Canberra, Australia
Wessels, J.I. (2012) Ecological peacebuilding in the Jordan River Basin, a serious game, paper presented at Panel Session Alternative Peacebuilding at the HCRI conference: New Frontiers for Peacebuilding: Hybridity, Governance, and Local Agency, Manchester University, 13 - 14 September, 2012, Manchester, UK
Wessels, J.I. (2012) A “Syrious” Game, hydromonopoly and local rural communitieis in the Occupied Golan Heights, Paper presented at Panel Session 1.1 Precarious Peacebuilding I: Friction in International-Local Encounters at the Swedish National Conference on Peace and Conflict Research, University of Gothenburg, June 14-15, 2012, Sweden.
Wessels, J.I. (2012) Qanat rehabilitation as a viable tool for collective action for social development and conflict resolution in rural communities in arid areas for the International Conference on Traditional Knowledge for Water Resources Management 21-23 February 2012, Yazd, Iran
Wessels, J.I. (2005) Criteria for renovating and using ancient qanats in Syria-case studies in Proceedings of the International Frontinus Symposium 2-5 October 2003, Walferdange, Luxemburg, ISBN 3-9806091-2-X, pp249-262.
Wessels, J.I. (2003) Community action for evaluating the use of common water resources in Syria in Faces of Poverty, Capabilities, mobilization and institutional transformation, proceedings of the International CERES Summerschool 2003, KIT, Amsterdam, Netherlands, ISBN 90-76736-09-X, pp. 358-376
Wessels, J.I., R. Hoogeveen, Aw-Hassan, A., Arab, G. (2003) the Potential for Renovating Qanat Systems in Syria through community action –final project report for NRMP, ICARDA, Syria, 110 pp.
Wessels, J.I. (2002) Traditional Water Management in Syria; an evaluation of the qanats of Syria, in Proceedings Oman International Conference 2002 on the Development and Management of Water Conveyance Systems (Aflaj), Muscat Oman, Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Environment and Water Resources, 9 pp.
International conference proceedings with papers during 2012 (work in progress)
Karin Aggestam & Joshka Wessels " Securitization of water and liberal peacebuilding: Contradictions in terms and practices" ,Workshop on Securitization of Water Discourse, Jerusalem, December 2012.
Joshka Wessels “Valleys of Hope and Despair; peace building through independent environmental documentaries”, 4th International conference on Peace & Reconciliation through Art, Music and Film, Jerusalem, November, 2012
Reviews & Thesis supervision
First review of “The Middle East Water Dossier” by Fanack, Chronicle of the Middle east and North Africa
Samir, A. (2012) “The Palestinian Refugees Presence in Lebanon, a study on the Palestinian Humanitarian rights in Lebanon”, MA Thesis in Development Studies Major Political Science, Graduate School, Lund University, Sweden
Mitchell, T. (2012) “Chinese Foreign Direct investment in Myanmar: remarkable trends and multilayered motivations”, MA Thesis in Development Studies Major Political Science, Graduate School, Lund University, Sweden
Smith, S.N. (2012) “Following the organ trail: an analysis of the underground trade in human organs and the factors that sustain it”, MA Thesis in Development Studies Major Political Science, Graduate School, Lund University, Sweden
Popular scientific articles
Wessels, J.I. (2005) What is the future for ancient water tunnels in the Middle East? Arid Lands Newsletter, University of Arizona, No. 57, May/June 2005, USA
Wessels, J. (2003) Qanats in Syria, ease the water shortage, Waterlines 22(2):8-10, ITDG Publishing, UK, ISSN 0262-8104, pp.8-11.
Newspaper articles, media appearances & outreach
Wessels J.I. Red de zwijgende meerderheid van Syrie, NRC Dutch National Daily Newspaper, (edition 21 July 2012)
Wessels, J.I. How to save and protect the silent majority in Syria? in EMAJ Magazine (edition 18 July 2012)
Wessels, J.I. (2012) “Applying video in development research” contribution to “No farewell Remembrances of Ton Dietz at the UvA” Booklet University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Joshka Wessels “Hydromonopoly” playing the Jordan River Basin game, presentation at the 6th World Water Forum, 12-17 March 2012, Marseille, France in collaboration with UNESCO-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands
Attendance 6th World Water Forum 12-17 March 2012, Marseille, France
Joshka Wessels (2012) public screening of the film "Valley of Hope and Despair" at the Alternative World Water Forum 12-17 March 2012, Marseille, France followed by an Q & A with the audience.
Attendance Alternative World Water Forum 12-17 March 2012, Marseille, France
Joshka Wessels (2012) Presentation and lecture "Documenting and sharing traditional water knowledge: a participatory approach using video in Qanat rehabilitation" for the UNESCO-IHE and International Water History Association short course on World History of Water Management, 23-27 February, Yazd, Iran
Joshka Wessels (2012) Radio interview, 30 January, L1 Radio, Maastricht, The Netherlands, on Syria and latest developments
Joshka Wessels (2011) Radio interview, 27 November, L1 Radio, Maastricht, The Netherlands on Arab Spring, Syria and Social Media
Joshka Wessels (2011) Organised and moderated a panel discussion on the Arab Spring “Arab spring, citizen journalism and filmmaking”, 23 November, Lumiere Cinema, Maastricht, the Netherlands
Joshka Wessels (2011) participation in UNESCO conference "Environmental History and the History of Water in Israel and Palestine: International Conference", 18-19 September 2012, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Jerusalem, Israel
Joshka Wessels (2011) screening of her film "Valley of Hope and Despair", 1st September, Faculty of Political Sciences, Lund University, Lund
Joshka Wessels (2011) organizer community tour of her film "Valley of Hope and Despair" in Occupied Westbank, 13-21 September, Palestinian Authority
Joshka Wessels (2011) Radio interview, 26 August, Zomergasten, L1 Radio, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Documentary Films & Awards
“Valley of Hope and Despair” directors-cut, 45 mins (2011) Sapiens Productions, The Netherlands
“Valleys of Hope and Despair” Witness, 23 mins, (2010) Al Jazeera English
Broadcast: Al Jazeera English
“An Eyeful of Sound” directed by Samantha Moore, 10 mins. (2010) Producer
Awards: Best experimental animation, Scinema Science Filmfestival, Australia, 2010, Documentary Diploma FLIP animation festival, UK produced by Wellcome Trust/Sapiens Productions, UK/NL
“Water from the dawn of civilization” 20 mins (2009) UNESCO, Screened and distributed by UNESCO HQ, Paris, France
“Karez in Kurdistan” 40 mins (2009) UNESCO-Iraq, Screened and distributed by UNESCO HQ, Paris, France
“Water Save Local, Solve Global” 40 mins (2009) EU-MEDA Water Programme, EU, Amman, Jordan
“Waste not waste”, TVE-Earth report, 23” (2008) Director/Producer
Broadcast: BBC World Awards: ENVIROFILM 2008, prize for category A, "Journalistic Programmes and Films".
“The Beloved Ones” directed by Samantha Moore, Digital Short UK Filmcouncil, 6” (2007) Producer Screenings: Cannes Short Film Corner 2007; Margaret Mead Festival 2007; London Short Film Festival 2008; Aspen USA 2008; Zagreb, 2008 Awards: Zagreb Animation festival Special Mention, 2008
“Nor any drop to drink”, TVE-Earth Report, 23” (2006) Producer/Director Awards: Special Award at “Green Wave – 21st Century” International Environment Festival in Bulgaria, May 2007
“Above Board; Trading timber legally”, DVD (2006) Producer/director Distributed worldwide by CIDT, UK Timber Trade Foundation and DFID-UK
“Darfur: Earth, Wind and Fire”, TVE-Earth Report, 23” (2005) Camera/Director/Producer Broadcast: BBC World.
“Finnish the Water”, 5” (2004) Camera/Director/Producer Short item, Company: Perspective Productions "Part of Hands On Series, TVE/BBC World"
“Fishing for Litter”, 5” (2004) Camera/Director/Producer Short, Company: Perspective Productions "Part of Hands On Series, TVE/BBC World"
“Marooned”, TVE-Earth Report, 23” (2004) Camera/Director/Producer Broadcast: BBC World.
“River of Hope”, Comic Relief, 45” (2003) Camera/Director/Producer Project commissioned by Healthlink Worldwide. Screened at the Old Market Hall, Shrewsbury. Excerpts of this film were broadcast at BBC Big Screen, Birmingham, 2005 and screened at TIC filmfestival, Birmingham.
“David Morley, a man with a vision”, TALC, 7” (2003) Camera/Director/Producer Project commissioned by TALC.
“Tunnel Vision”,TVE-Earthreport , 26” (2003) Camera/Director/Producer Broadcast: BBC World. Awards: Winner of the EKOFILM General Partner Skoda Award, 2004. Winner of the Award for Water, Sea and the Oceans, 2005.
“Little Waterfall”, United Nations University, 52” (2003) Camera/Director/Producer Awards: Special recommendation in the category “Archaeology and Material Culture” at the RAI filmfestival 2003 Durham, UK.