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- Aalders, Johannes Theodor, et al.
(author)
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The Making and Unmaking of a Megaproject: Contesting Temporalities along the LAPSSET Corridor in Kenya
- 2021
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In: Antipode. - : Wiley. - 0066-4812 .- 1467-8330. ; 53:5, s. 1273-1293
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, we show how communities in Northern Kenya proactively engage an unfolding megaproject and the temporalities it evokes—the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET). We argue that the latitude communities have in contending with megaprojects is broader and more dynamic than passive reception of or outright resistance against the futures promised. By introducing the concepts of entangling and fraying, we emphasise the agency communities create for themselves by appreciating their strategies and expressions of stabilising or troubling the “megaproject”. While entangling refers to practices through which communities attach additional features to an otherwise rather stable vision of its “meganess”, fraying, in contrast, describes the strands that splice off towards different spatio‐temporal imaginaries. We discuss these practices in four instances of engaging LAPSSET: constructing temporary homes at project sites; engaging in land reform; disputing land acquisition at oil exploration sites; and contesting a planned resort city.
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| 2. |
- Bachmann, Jan, 1978, et al.
(author)
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Kenya: Behind disputed election, signs of growing democratic resilience
- 2022
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In: Nordic Africa Institute Blog.
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Journal article (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- Despite the familiar imagery of post-election chaos, the 2022 Kenyan elections may in fact point to the robustness of Kenya’s democracy, in which institutional grievance mechanisms have gained acceptability. Regardless of the outcome of the ongoing dispute, both contenders are faced with the challenge to regain the trust of an electorate that has grown tired of the country’s political class.
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| 3. |
- Bachmann, Jan, 1978, et al.
(author)
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Kenya launches Lamu Port. But its value remains an open question
- 2021
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In: The Conversation.
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Journal article (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- Kenya’s newest mega infrastructure project, the Lamu port, has received its first ship. Jan Bachmann and Benard Musembi – who study the environmental, socio-economic and security dynamics along the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor – provide insights into the history of the port, the opportunities it presents and the concerns around it.
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| 4. |
- Kilaka, Benard
(author)
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Security Controversies along the LAPSSET Infrastructure Corridor in Kenya
- 2022
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This Ph.D. thesis accounts for the changing political relations between different actors in northern Kenya through a focus on controversies emerging from the securing of the LAPS-SET mega project. Through the controversies, the thesis provides a useful lens for understanding how state authority becomes visible in areas with limited state presence and how different actors navigate the new reality. As the thesis shows, efforts by the national government and private actors to secure key components of the infrastructure project, such as the oil fields in Turkana and the Lamu Port, have elicited mixed reactions due to the adverse implications of the security practices on people’s livelihoods, dignity, and public security, amongst others. Therefore, this thesis examines the different security practices around the project. Furthermore, it analyses the different controversies that such practices generate and how they are resolved (or not). Since the project is still under construction, the thesis focuses on the Lamu Port and the oil sites in Turkana, where the controversies are, so far, the most visible. Theoretically, this study draws inspiration from scholarly works on the politics of infrastructure in diverse fields, such as International Relations, Political Theory, Science and Technology Studies, and Anthropology. Moreover, this thesis pursues a practise-based approach and therefore puts practices in the foreground. In analysing the controversies emerging from the security practices around components of the LAPSSET project, the thesis draws inspiration from pragmatic sociology and critical institutionalism, which present a useful framework for understanding how different actors react and interact during periods of uncertainty. To understand how the controversies play out and how they are reconfiguring political relations between different actors in Northern Kenya, this thesis draws on insights from community members in Turkana and Lamu, civil society activists, national and county government officials, and employees of private commercial companies, who are, in one way or another, involved with the controversies tied to security practices around the LAPSSET project. The thesis relied on empirical material collected during a fieldwork exercise in Ken-ya (Lamu, Turkana, Mombasa, and Nairobi) in 2018, 2019, and 2021.
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