In her dissertation “Contested Waters: Historical Legacies of Hydropower Dams, and Future-Making in Tanzania’s Rufiji Basin (1960s–2010s)”, Emma Athanasio Minja examines the long and controversial history of hydropower development in Tanzania’s Rufiji Basin, with a particular focus on the Stiegler’s Gorge Dam project.
The study analyses how the dam, initially conceived during the colonial period and repeatedly revisited after independence, remained unbuilt for more than a century before its recent revival. Rather than interpreting this prolonged delay as a failure, the dissertation conceptualizes the project’s dormancy as a productive force that sustained political visions, shaped development narratives, and mediated Tanzania’s engagement with ecological concerns, foreign aid, and questions of sovereignty.
Drawing on extensive archival research in the national archives of Tanzania, Norway, and Sweden, as well as oral interviews and lived experiences with Tanzanian stakeholders, the dissertation traces how shifting political regimes, environmental debates, and financial constraints influenced the project’s trajectory over time. The findings demonstrate that large infrastructure projects can remain socially and politically active even in the absence of construction, re-emerging at critical moments of ideological or regime change.
The revival of Stiegler’s Gorge Dam—renamed the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (JNHPP)—illustrates how historical infrastructural visions are rearticulated within contemporary narratives of energy sovereignty and national pride.
The Department of Geography warmly congratulates Emma Athanasio Minja on her successful defense!
