Arne Rieber defended his dissertation entitled ‘The political ecology of hydraulic infrastructure in Kenya. Claim-making and contestations in hydrosocial spaces’ on 30 June 2025. He was supervised by Prof. Detlef Müller-Mahn.
This work in development geography examined the political, social and economic dimensions of large-scale water infrastructure projects in Kenya. Using dam projects as an example, it analysed how various actors develop, design and communicate visions of the future in order to influence development processes. It showed that individual desires, hopes and ambitions shape everyday actions. With a focus on the political ecology of water and land use, it showed how infrastructural promises, visualisations and plans are designed by project developers and political actors, often resulting in conflicts, negotiation processes and overlapping claims. From a temporal perspective, the thesis traced current Kenyan infrastructure policy through projects at very different stages of development and materialisation.
Arne Rieber is conducting research in the Collaborative Research Centre ‘Future Rural Africa’ on shaping the future in large-scale infrastructure projects in East Africa. His focus is on the ‘Not Yet’, the uncertainties and expectations regarding infrastructure in rural Kenya.
We warmly congratulate Arne Rieber on his successful defence!
