Performing Modernity: The Scalar Politics of Irrigation Development in Nepal

Scales do not emanate from some pre-existing reality, but instead actively help to produce them. Scales divide, map and categorize; they are a way to help make sense of complexities by creating order. They demarcate, define, delineate and indeed proactively establish and produce the boundaries between what matters and what can be ignored. As many contributors to this volume (e.g. Sneddon and Fox; Budds) show, the choice of scales is often a matter of politics, reflecting interests and power. We add to this that it is also, and importantly, a matter of custom; it reflects, produces and protects traditions, territories and cultures, identities and social hierarchies. Particular scales belong to particular beliefs and communities; they quite literally help to produce these communities as well as the realities they believe in (or want to help create).