Dams in the Desert: An Environmental and Agricultural History of Water in Sonora, Mexico

This article seeks to address the connections between the development of dams and irrigation systems in the state of Sonora in northwest Mexico with agricultural modernisation in the mid to late twentieth century. It evaluates agricultural, environmental and social results of this water development through the lens of political ecology. It argues that in Mexico a 'hydraulic bureaucracy' emanating from the national capital Mexico City governed water policy and development in Sonora, with environmental and social impacts that were not foreseen.