Daniel Mains. Under Construction: Technologies of Development in Urban Ethiopia. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. xi + 215 pp. Notes. References. Index. $25.95. Paper. ISBN: 97814780-06411.

Abstract

Under Construction: Technologies of Development in Urban Ethiopia is the result of several years of ethnographic field research by author Daniel Mains. It is a well written and methodical exposition that describes the ambivalence and hope invested in constructing an imagined Ethiopian renaissance. On the one hand, academic accounts (and journalistic exposes) depict Ethiopia as an example of one of the new "African Lions." The lived experience of many Ethiopians, however, paints a different picture; they complain that they struggle to access electricity, water, and other basic services, and lack the opportunity for due participation in the decision-making that drives development processes.The book is organized into five chapters, each of which examines a particular form of urban infrastructure, to advance arguments about the everyday encounters between citizens, the state, and the materials used in construction. The specific topics covered are: (1) the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (29-58); (2) asphalt road construction (58-91); (3) processes of urban development in Jimma (92-120); (4) Bajaj transportation (121-50); and (5) the construction of cobblestone roads (151-80).Under Construction addresses the fact that Ethiopia had one of the fastestgrowing economies in the world between 2007 and 2017, and much of that growth resulted from high levels of state investment in infrastructure. Discussing Ethiopia and a handful of other African countries, the Economist in its December 3, 2011, edition published a cover story titled "Africa Rising," which offered the hope that after decades of slow economic growth, African countries finally had a real chance at rapid economic progress. However, as this book acknowledges, the "Africa rising" narrative celebrated the withdrawal of the state as creating an opportunity for economic growth that was not stifled by an inefficient and often predatory bureaucracy. There is no better example of the cracks in the "Africa rising" narrative than Ethiopia, which had been one of the fastest risers.