Bursting pipes and broken dreams
On ruination and reappropriation of large-scale water infrastructure in Baringo County, Kenya
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2182688 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Greven (0000-0003-0244-3043, University of Cologne, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 241-261 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Eastern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1753-1055 • E-ISSN: 1753-1063 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17531055.2023.2231790 |
| OpenAlex | W4384453993 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 20 |
In the course of Kenya’s Vision 2030 development plan, the Kenyan Northern Rift Valley recently became the playground for new stakeholders, interests and speculations. Large-scale development projects, such as the geothermal exploration in Tiaty East sub-county, is one of them and is described as game-changer in a formerly marginalized area. This article explores the case of Mt. Paka, a dormant volcano, where the Kenyan Geothermal Development Company (GDC) recently finished their exploratory drillings and established a road and water infrastructure for the geothermal project and the adjacent communities. Drawing on ethnographic research, this contribution examines the dynamic processes of ruination, reappropriation and negotiation along the newly built water infrastructure. While GDC is constantly trying to counter the ruination of pipelines with maintenance and retrofitting, local communities utilize leakages along the infrastructure, maintaining it in its ruined state to satisfy their own needs. This study highlights how the water infrastructure at Mt. Paka materializes in unexpected ways and shows its transformative potential in two directions: the ruination and the reappropriation of it
Environmental planning · Geography · Kenya · Political science · Sociology · Transformative learning · Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact · Law · Mining and Resource Management · Water Governance and Infrastructure
Imperial Debris
Risk Management in a Hazardous Environment
Cementing Relations
Fauna, Fire, and Farming
Cross-Scale Linkages of Centralized Electricity Generation
Roads to Change
From Cattle to Corn
Incompleteness of urban infrastructures in transition
Paradoxical Infrastructures
Disquieting ambivalence of mega-infrastructures
The Ethnography of Infrastructure
Municipal disconnect
Frontier transformations
Infrastructural Fractals
Infrastructures of utopia
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1.67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |