Paper short abstract:

The envisioned future of an infrastructure corridor in Northern Kenya is contrasted with an analysis of boundary-making by local actors in anticipation of the infrastructure investments.

Paper long abstract:

In Northern Kenya, a historically marginalized region, the Kenyan government has envisioned an infrastructure corridor, the Lamu Port- South Sudan- Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor, which is meant to push the "growth frontier" into Kenya's north. The roads, railways and oil pipelines will cut through territories with a lot of nature conservation areas. The vast, dry and remote counties of Northern Kenya are largely inhabited by mobile pastoralists and land is communally owned. In recent decades, several portions of land have been designated as conservancies; many of which are community-based conservancies.

The paper will investigate how the futures envisioned by the planners play out in the reality of present political struggles over land use in northern Kenya, looking at community conservancies located along the LAPSSET corridor at the borders of Meru and Isiolo counties as an empirical case study. Based on preliminary findings of an interview and document analysis, the paper will analyze how the county administrations and pastoralist communities position themselves and engage in boundary-making in anticipation of the infrastructure corridor.

Paper short abstract:

The paper takes the example of the SAGCOT and LAPSSET development corridors in Tanzania and Kenya to discuss an analytical approach that views the planning and implementation of African development corridors as projections of future visions into space.

Paper long abstract:

The paper argues that corridors have become dominant blue-prints for spatial development in Africa because of a specific way in which they express, perform and implement 'desirable futures'. They reflect spatial imaginations that follow primarily European role models and experiences of spatial planning and modernization. The analytical approach presented in the paper is not meant as an alternative to political economy explanations that view development corridors primarily as entry points of global capitalism, but rather as a complimentary perspective. It refers to three strands of conceptual debates. The first discusses how futures are "made" and can be empirically approached through practices of future-making. The second looks at imaginations of African futures in relation to images of the continent itself. The third takes the empirical example of development corridors in Africa to scrutinize their meaning as 'dreamscapes of modernity', in the sense of Jasanoff (2015). The empirical background of the paper comes from two ongoing studies on the SAGCOT and LAPSSET corridors in Tanzania and Kenya. The studies scrutinize the power play, negotiations and translations that can be observed in the interaction between politicians, investors, development experts, and local populations.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper, we examine a seemingly paradoxical trend, whereby new transport corridors in East and Southern Africa appear to be simultaneously driving the degradation and conservation of the environment and biodiversity.

Paper long abstract:

The world is experiencing one of the most explosive eras of infrastructure development in history. As the global economy expands ever further into new frontiers of commodity and energy production, demand for new and improved transport infrastructure has skyrocketed. This transport infrastructure boom is particularly notable in East and Southern Africa, where vast networks of railways, roads, and pipelines are being constructed to open isolated parts of the continent for investment. A growing body of academic literature claims that these 'transport corridors' are fuelling environmental degradation, habitat fragmentation, and the illegal wildlife trade. Yet, such claims largely overlook the fact that transport corridors are also paving the way for new investments in eco-tourism, protected areas, and renewable energy. In this paper, we examine this seemingly paradoxical trend of transport corridors simultaneously driving both the degradation and conservation of the environment. Specifically, we consider the types of conservation futures emerging as the geopolitical interests of different global actors - e.g. Chinese investment in infrastructure and British investment in conservation - come into contact with each other along transport corridors in East and Southern Africa. Our analysis is based on research carried out along transport corridors in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia between 2014 and 2018.

Paper short abstract:

Along the Kwando River in north-east Namibia, the lives of the residents have continuously been shaped and renegotiated over the 20th century. This paper focusses on the reconstruction of the settlement history, the transformation of local livelihoods and the introduction of new future visions.

Paper long abstract:

The Zambezi Region in north-eastern Namibia is part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) and the conservation of wildlife and the environment is key to the development prospects of the wider region.

Within the Zambezi Region the Kwando River crosses from Singalamwe in the north to Sangwali (Nsheshe) in the south, creating a vast floodplain, which is not only home to a great variety of wildlife, but also to many people. During the 20th century, almost all people along the 100-kilometre-long corridor of the Kwando River migrated or were resettled at least once due to different reasons, such as the declaration of a cattle-free zone (in former West Caprivi), the large-scale spraying against tsetse flies, or the establishment of national parks.

In this paper, I reconstruct the history of settlements along the Kwando River and focus on the impacts of the constant relocation on local livelihoods. Often the current subsistence-based practices, such as cattle husbandry and farming, conflict with the ongoing expansion of nature conservation and tourism. Though the community-based natural resource management approach aims at participation with and a strong support of local communities, the evaluation of future visions of residents and policy makers differ widely. I would like to answer the questions, to what extent the lives of the Kwando residents were shaped by political decisions or 'past future visions' and to what extent their livelihoods were transformed over time. Subsequently, I draw the attention to the new visions, such as community-based natural resource management and the promotion of tourism, and the residents' perception towards them.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the impact of politically-driven historical and present-day rural transformations in Kwahu East, Ghana. Through reflections on recent empirical fieldwork research, it poses a challenge to 'Spaces of Future-Making', calling for redistribution of power in decision-making processes.

Paper long abstract:

Kwahu East borders the largest man-made lake in the world - Lake Volta - the arrival of which transformed rural life. Thousands of people were displaced and many resettled in Kwahu towns; forest-shaded cocoa crops started failing; wildfires increased the presence of grasslands, stoking farmer-herder conflicts; the rains became both lighter and less predictable. Regardless of whether these events are causal or coincidental, local narratives speak of historical transformation which most people had little say in. Fast forward sixty years: the land which previously felt plentiful and abundant, both in size and yield, is starting to feel overcrowded, over-exploited and contested by different actors all wanting access for incompatible purposes. The cogs of rural transformation keep turning with large private and state-led development projects - an airport, conference centre and tourist sites. As available space reduces and access to decision-making remains limited, there is a risk that local conflicts and economic inequalities are further exacerbated.

Drivers of change are politically, socially and environmentally embedded. This talk will explore rural transformations, both historical and recent, that result from political persuasions, personalities and privilege. The paper draws on empirical research from PhD fieldwork uncovering the multidimensional drivers of tree cover change in the transition forest zone. The author uses these reflections to argue that, to pursue rural transformation that prioritises both social and ecological well-being, those facilitating 'Spaces of Future-Making' must acknowledge the agency of all actors, deconstruct the narratives that underpin current trajectories of development and redistribute power in decision-making processes.

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses urban-to-rural migration in sub-Saharan Africa and its relation to the emergence and development of new towns and urbanism. Case studies include emergent towns in Angola and Mozambique.

Paper long abstract:

This paper discusses urban-to-rural migration in sub-Saharan Africa and its relation to the emergence and development of new towns and urbanism. New conditions of mobility in the continent together with the establishment and development of newly urbanised and proto-urban areas call for a reassessment of migratory and settlement dynamics in most regions. The theoretical approaches and policy focuses in the continent aim at and prioritise issues of unequal territorial development and the demographic imbalances between urban and rural areas, often not taking into account important changing contexts of urban-rural relations, the societal implications, and new signs of transformation and reconfiguration of urban form. As new dynamics emerge, the focus needs to move beyond urbanization linked to rural exodus and integrate the research on new social and economic local reconfigurations, such as towns linked to agribusinesses or mining/natural resources-related ventures, to border posts or ports, or to tourism facilities, and assess the specific role and importance of urban-to-rural migration in these processes. Case studies include emergent towns in Angola and Mozambique.

Paper short abstract:

The paper explores new forms of engagement with refugee hosting regions in east Africa. It builds on the analysis of protracted refugee camps as hybrid spaces, with fluid and permeable boundaries, that provide socio-economic opportunities and have the potential to be drivers of development.

Paper long abstract:

The impact and effects of protracted refugee camps on their host environments in east Africa has been subject of increasing academic attention since the late 1990s. Such camps have often been viewed as isolating and secluding spaces, while host societies perceived refugees as a burden and a security threat. This led to claims for mitigation to compensate for the pressures that these camps place on their local environments. Recent analyses, however, posit such camps as hybrid spaces, with fluid and permeable boundaries, that provide socio-economic opportunities and have the potential to be drivers of development, particularly in marginalised environments. This paper focusses on how forms of humanitarian governance emanate from such camps and come to impact on their host environments, and increasingly co-govern and co-shape socio-spatial relations beyond the boundaries of the camp and the initial targets of humanitarian concern. The paper analyses how new forms of international engagement materialise in these refugee hosting regions, and how discourses and programmes that regard protracted camps as opportunity for development relate to contemporary migration concerns and debates.

Paper short abstract:

In the context of rapid urbanisation across the continent, this paper seeks to apply spatial theory to rural spaces in Cote d'Ivoire in order to unpack social and spatial constraints faced by women workers when entering formal wage employment in rural areas for the first time.

Paper long abstract:

Sociologists have long argued that spatial mismatch, or costs for workers associated with the distance from home to work, determines the extensive margin of labour supply of urban areas in developed countries (Kain 1968; Wilson, 1987). But what about in rural contexts where labour supply vastly exceeds demand? Using findings from fieldwork in Findon*, Cote d'Ivoire, this essay examines an unexplored aspect of spatial mismatch theory, namely, its application to a rural context in the developing world. In order to correct the mismatch, the theory suggests bringing people to jobs or jobs to people. The cashew processing firms of CAFAC* have brought jobs to people by locating their factories in secondary towns and cities around Cote d'Ivoire, hiring low-skilled workers from the surrounding rural areas. An estimated ninety-five percent of these workers are women who have overcome constraints to labour force participation. Qualitative evidence from interviews provides new information on how far these women travel to work in an attempt to see if the spatial mismatch has been corrected by CAFAC. Concerning the role of space in future-making, policymakers and private sector actors are urged to take into account the spatial-determinants of future work-related arrangements when creating more, and better, agro-processing jobs for women in rural areas.

*Names have been changed

Paper short abstract:

Idolized upon independence yet subjected to suspicions ever since, Angola's rural populations have remained dependent on an aloof MPLA to transform their socio-economic plight. Yet the party's modus operandi has adopted colonial visions to prepare the terrain for a new elitist rural rent base.

Paper long abstract:

Angolan elites have long pointed to the colonial-era agricultural production as evidence that diversifying the economy towards rural spaces should encompass the future vision of the political economy. The MPLA (People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola) therefore looks to the past to inform its visions of the country's future. But the global commodities market has left Angola's agricultural sector behind and catching up would demand clear-eyed vision, frank realism, and a highly trained technocratic core. The more urgent goal of achieving food security would have to come before vintage visions of becoming a leader in global agriculture once again.

In furtherance of this objective, the government has bet big on spatial transformations through major infrastructure initiatives to ease rural mobility and the occupation of key agricultural spaces with major agro-industrial State farms in partnership with Chinese loans and companies. If managed correctly, these investments have the potential to initiate radiating development poles, lifting up the heretofore neglected rural populations. Otherwise, they could transform into "white elephant" investments, diverting endless public resources and stirring up local resentment

Either way, by betting big on transforming rural spaces by funneling major public investment into State farms, the MPLA has engaged a diversionary rural political economy that directs rural rent accumulation through the party's control, thus strengthening its political hold in new spaces. Historically wary of rural entrepreneurs gaining political influence through economic largesse, the MPLA envisions a future countryside where it remains kingmaker through centralized channels of power and influence.

Paper short abstract:

On one side, large scale land acquisitions in Sudan by investors from the Gulf countries reflect the government vision of future-making and, on the other side, they product new rural spaces, without any consideration for the interests of local communities.

Paper long abstract:

We address the issue of the new spatial outcomes generated by the facilitation policies of foreign investments in the Sudanese drylands. These vast, remote and poorly populated lands, far from the Nile, constitute the privileged topic of political narratives aimed at interpreting Sudan as a "sleeping giant", but with the intention of "waking up" him. The "rediscovery" of agriculture in Sudan is on one hand the response to the concerns of Gulf countries intent on saving the groundwater used for their large farms, and then in need of new land abroad. Foreign agricultural investments in the country on the other hand express the will of the Sudanese government to promote a hydro-agricultural mission that wants to push the national economy and to reinforce the fragile consent of government. In the past, the state strategy expressed itself in the implementation of agricultural mega-projects under the control of a public bureaucracy. At the time of the establishment of the projects, the drylands —characterised by nomadic cattle breeding and rain-fed agriculture— lost their socio-environmental complexity (their 'thickness'), becoming simplified spaces as dictated by planned agriculture: 'thin spaces' in the words of Scott (1988). Recently, however, a new agricultural development strategy has emerged that takes shape in what we have called "ultra-thin spaces". State willingness to "make room" for private interests, to offer the local places to foreign investors and to include them in the global economic dynamics translates into the creation of a new type of agricultural investment, very "light" and mobile.

Paper short abstract:

Dans un contexte marqué par l'autonomie financière de ses différents acteurs sociaux (jeunes, femmes etc.), laquelle est engendrée par la culture du cannabis, les rapports sociaux dans la société traditionnelle karone, en Casamance ont subi des transformations substantielles.

Paper long abstract:

Les rapports qu'une frange importante de la société a dorénavant avec l'argent issu de la culture et du commerce illicite de drogue ont dépouillé la plupart des valeurs qui cimentent la cohésion sociale dans la société karone. Ainsi, de la parenté au respect des personnes âgées, en passant par plusieurs autres valeurs non moins importantes pour la cohésion sociale et/ou communautaire, toutes ces valeurs sont aujourd'hui en train de subir les effets de la logique financière. Ici il faut dire que le sens est en train de s'évanouir ou de disparaitre dans la « spirale de l'argent » pour reprendre une expression de Christine Marsan (2008). De sorte que le lien social en a également subi une érosion significative. La communauté politique que constitue le village ainsi que la famille, ne jouent plus leur rôle traditionnel d'intégration au premier chef, tandis que d'autres cadres intégrateurs comme les groupes d'âges sont en voie de disparition. D'où les phénomènes de désaffiliation / réaffiliation qui ont donné naissance à de nouveaux réseaux de sociabilité dont les plus atypiques sont ceux qui ont pour lieux d'élection les maquis. C'est cette catégorie des exclus qui a rendu plus visible le problème de la jeunesse née avec l'économie du chanvre.

C'est dire donc que cette économie déviante a tellement provoqué des changements profonds au sein de la société karone qu'on ne peut aujourd'hui s'empêcher de s'interroger sur son devenir. Cela dit, cette interrogation passe de notre point de vue par une critique du capitalisme spontané qui aboutira à une conception renouvelée du changement social.