The Wet and the Dry: Traditional Irrigation in Bali and Morocco

The comparative perspective is of central importance to effective analysis in human ecology. The present paper compares "traditional" irrigation systems in two quite disparate settings: east central Morocco and southeastern Bal. Bali, which has a tropical climate and a plentiful water supply, displays a highly collective approach to the organization of irrigation facilities. Morocco, which is essentially an arid country, displays, on the contrary, a much more individual, property-based approach to water regulation. The internal organization of these two regimes is described and their connection with more general cultural and ecological factors is traced, in an attempt to demonstrate that patterns of adaptation are susceptible to the same pattern of analysis as other aspects of social and cultural life. The contrast between the strongly group-oriented Balinese approach to water control and distribution and the highly individualistic Moroccan one is said to extend in an overall way to the two societies as a whole.