2nd SECTION : " THE POWER OF WATER "

A Little Memo : This section focused on scientific issues will be opened to studies conducted by anthropologists, ethnologists, historians, sociologists, engineers, scientists working on environment issues, biologists, astronomers, chemists, economists, agronomists, hydrogeologists. A body of studies will present the various works imagined and achieved by men to master the strength of water, to preserve their natural resources of water, to struggle against risks of pollution and epidemics, and to distribute these resources in a more equitable manner on the whole planet. Other analyses will examine the role of water in human societies. Then, we will look up beyond the terrestrial limits with some investigations and studies conducted by astronomers and space scientists. Some recent research indicate that water can be also found on Mars, and some new images of Europa collected by the Galileo spacecraft proved that water under a liquid form may have very possibly existed on this satellite, and that today this water may still be present beneath Europa's cracked icy crust. Moreover, man's exploration of the interstellar space seems to be more and more motivated by the quest for water within the solar system and beyond.

ARTICLES ON-LINE :

• "Alma da Agua : A Space Awareness Initiative" by Richard Clar and Dinis Ribeiro
  Natural water samples gathered from the eight Portuguese speaking countries will be combined in space aboard a Brazilian sounding rocket. In celebrating metaphorically their common bond of language, the project addresses the possibility of greater technical unification and deeper collaboration of Portuguese speaking countries in addressing the issues of water management using space technology.
  (Text in English)

• The Humanising of Rural Water Supply in Africa by Alan MALINA
  (Text in English)

• Amazing Amazon : esthétique évolutionnaire by José Wagner GARCIA and Paulo Roberto MARTINI
  (Text in French)

• La fonction symbolique de l'eau en Afrique Noire : une approche culturelle by Camille TALKEU TOUNOUGA
  (Text in French)

• Nommo, le génie d'eau. Paroles Dogon, Tellem & Nongom, by Jacky BOUJU
  (Text in French)

• WATER SYMBOLISM IN SHAMBAA ARTS OF HEALING, by Barbara THOMPSON (United States. University of Iowa)
  In Shambaa cultural heritage, notions of health and sickness are directly associated with long-held symbolic relationships between the environment and the spirit world. Spirits are seen as being ubiquitous to the environment and just as aspects of the environment can influence health or sickness, so too can spirits. In the Shambaa sacred arts of healing, called ughanga, images, materials and symbols associated with ecological notions are used in healing processes to represent and invoke the spirit world in order to uphold personal, communal and cultural well-being. Ecological imagery is used also to express continuities and changes in cultural, social and moral codes that not only educate and guide the way people behave but also (re)define their place within the broader universe (see Thompson 1999). This essay will examine specifically the symbolism of water as it is used in the visual and performing arts of spirit healing (ughanga) to express notions of health, cleanliness and purity.
  (Text in English)

• Karin RETIEF : « Portrait of the Himba » : The Himba of northern Namibia are striking people, not only because of the dark red ochre they paint on their bodies, but for the way they have chosen to preserve their own unique ways. Self sufficient and totally independent, a plan to build a huge hydro-powered dam on the Kunene river, which runs through their ancestral land, will change their ways forever. I see the flow of the Kunene River as a metaphor for the change the Himba face with construction of the dam. Now, while the river still flows, the Himba visit their ancestral graves on the banks of the river where guidance is sought from the ancestors. The river is where their cattle and goats go to graze and the women fetch water. But when the construction of the dam stops the flow of the river, the way of life the Himba has known for centuries will stop as well, to make way for change - the old ways will be lost »
  (Text published in English presented within the context of the « Spirit and Power of Water »)

• Elisabeth PIOTELAT French engineer et member of the SETI (SEARCH FOR EXTRA TERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE). In an article untitled « Le Reflet des étoiles à la surface du point de l'eau », Elisabeth insists upon the importance of water, an indispensable element to life. « Water makes the planet Earth a « unique » planet in the solar system, the only one to have an ecosystem, the richest but also the most vulnerable one ». Hence the importance to study the presence of water in the solar system. Elisabeth Piotelat quotes - with reason - the words that the Malian engineer Cheik Mobido Diarra addressed to the children in Mali : « If we can find the water hiding up there (on Mars), we will be able to find the water hiding here. The tools used on Mars could be used here. The techniques developed to find water on Mars, to exploit it, purify it and distribute it, will help us resolve the problem of water on the Earth ».
  (Text in French)
  

• Dr. John MARCUS (SEARCH FOR EXTRA TERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE) : « Water and Radio Seti ». (Text in English).