Research Project

Kilowatts, megawatts and power: Electric territorialities of the state in the peripheries of Ghana and Tanzania.

In this project I sought to better understand how African states govern long-neglected peripheries. I drew inspiration from perspectives in Political Geography that attribute unevenness in the reach of the state to centre-periphery strategic calculations and political bargains. To explore that argument further, I looked at the spatial patterns of electrification produced by two schemes of grid extension in northern Ghana (1989-2012) and southeastern Tanzania (2004-15). The results highlight the weight of electoral calculations and local grievances as key core-periphery political linkages shaping the delivery of electricity. At the same time, they also point to the role of nation-wide distributional settlements over electricity policies in constraining or expanding the room for manoeuvre of central rulers.

I carried out fieldwork in Ghana in 2013, and in Tanzania in 2014 and 2015.

The PhD was awarded in late 2018.

Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Paul Nugent

Dr. Thomas Molony

Latest publications

• Pellicer-Sifres, Victoria, Sergio Belda-Miquel, Ivan Cuesta-Fernandez, and Alejandra Boni. 2018. “Learning, transformative action, and grassroots innovation: Insights from the Spanish energy cooperative Som Energia.” Energy Research & Social Science 42: 100–111.
• Hönke, Jana, Ivan Cuesta-Fernandez. 2018. "Mobilising security and logistics through an African port: A controversies approach to infrastructure." Mobilities 13(2): 246-260.
• Hönke, Jana, Ivan Cuesta-Fernandez. 2017. "A topolographical approach to infrastructure: Political topography, topology and the port of Dar es Salaam." Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 35(6): 1076-95.
• Belda-Miquel, Sergio, Alejandra Boni, Ivan Cuesta-Fernandez, and Jordi Peris. 2016. "Are rights-based approaches helping (re)politicise development NGOs? Exploring the Spanish case." International Development Planning Review 38(2): 135-57.
• Cuesta-Fernandez, Ivan. 2015. “Mammoth dams, lean neighbors: assessing the bid to turn Ethiopia into East Africa´s powerhouse.” In A New Scramble for Africa? The Rush for Energy Resources, ed. Soren Schölvin. Farnham and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 93-110.
• Peris-Blanes, Jordi, Sergio Belda-Miquel, and Ivan Cuesta-Fernandez. 2013. "Educating development professionals for reflective and transformative agency: insights from a master degree in Spain." In Human Development and Capabilities: Re-Imagining the University of the 21st Century, eds. Melanie Walker and Alejandra Boni-Aristizábal. Abingdon: Routledge, 192-203.

(full academic CV, ORCID)

Less regularly than I would like, I also publish research-based briefs on my blog: Electric Territorialities

Academic Qualifications

PhD African Studies, University of Edinburgh (2018)

MA Politics and Democracy, Spanish Distance Learning University, Spain (2011)

MSc Power Generation: Renewables, Public University of Navarre (2008)

MA Development and International Cooperation, Instituto Hegoa, University of the Basque Country (2005)

BEng Industrial Engineering, Technical University of Valencia (2001)