Research Interests

My research interests are broadly located within the field of development geography, though I am ambivalent about the usefulness of such a category. I am particularly interested in the way African families, cities and places accommodate change. I am also interested in the mutual imbrications of nature and society and the capacity of things (water, associations, trees, meetings, soil) to provide a commentary on the interdependent relationship between environments and politics. Much of my work has focused on water supply in West Africa , as a way of linking different histories and places to broader development questions about communities, the state, infrastructure, services, participatory governance, deliberative democracy and the transformation of the landscape.

• The political ecology of water supply in West Africa
• African studies, in particular Nigeria and Cameroon
• Community Development in history and practice
• The economic geography of the water industry
• Stakeholder Participation in water policy-making
• Urban Studies and associational life in African cities
• Nature, Culture and Botanic Gardens in Cameroon
• State, market and the water supply infrastructure in the UK European Water Policy