Join the Program of African Studies as we provide lunch and a lecture.
Lauren MacLean, Political Science, Indiana University at Bloomington
Does Electricity Demobilize Citizens?: Access to the Grid and Reduced Political Participation in Africa
Abstract:
This talk draws from a paper currently under review that motivated a new project that we will be beginning fieldwork in Western Kenya in February 2020 and summer 2020/summer 2021. In the paper, we analyze Afrobarometer data and find surprising results that increased access to the grid is correlated with reduced political participation. In the paper, we explore potential causal mechanisms for this relationship through a short case study from my work in Ghana. This qualitative analysis reveals new hypotheses that we will be testing in a new study in five counties of Western Kenya with the support of a SSHRC grant from Canada. This talk will share some of these initial findings and discuss our hunches before we pilot a survey and do additional qualitative work this summer.