Abstract
This article presents the ongoing results of a monthly seminar of the G-eau UMR held since 2022, focused on the diversity of knowledge about water and the challenges of articulating this diversity with the research project and practices. The paper outlines the development of this working group, the questions raised, and the methodologies implemented. We also discussed some difficulties and challenges that motivated us to pursue our exchanges beyond the results of the first year presented here. Although the working group started reflecting on ‘water knowledge’ as a study object, the discussion quickly identified ‘knowledge’ as a transversal topic, since research itself is a process of knowledge production. This prompted us to reflect on our roles as researchers, our interactions with other actors and knowledges, and our relationships with different disciplines. The following main themes were addressed during the first year of our seminar: i) the process of knowledge production; ii) the embeddedness of knowledge in power relationships and legitimacy processes; iii) the diversity and circulation of knowledge. Based on these thematic ‘entries’, we examined critically the concept of ‘knowledge’ itself and the way it is instrumentalized or marginalized in research projects relating to water. Using an inductive approach informed by fieldwork in various regions across the world, we aim to set up a collective (S’Eau) designed to serve not only as a space for interdisciplinary and collective reflection but also as a base to debate critical issues, articulate positions, share suitable methodologies, and promote reflexivity regarding the diverse research practices related to this essential element of life, i.e. water.