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.

I graduated in November 2018. My thesis is available here.

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.

(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)