The talk will discuss some examples of the very important but changing roles of rivers in history (the small Akerselva in Oslo, Norway, the Derwent in England, the Indus, and the Huang He in China). Based on these cases it will discuss modernization theories that dominated international discourse on development after World War II, theories that disregarded the role of water in historical developments.
For more information, please see: http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/rivers-symposium.