Paper short abstract:

This paper is focused on the historical legacies and contemporary political significance, both domestically, regionally and globally, of Ethiopia's rapidly growing air transport networks and infrastructure, as embodied in the expansion of Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is focused on the political significance of Ethiopia's rapidly growing air transport networks and infrastructure, as embodied in the expansion of Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport. The new airport is built on foundations first laid as a symbol of the country's burgeoning modernity when imperial Ethiopia entered the 'Jet Age' in the 1960s. The current expansion forms part of new efforts to make Addis Ababa the main gateway into Africa. This reimagines for the present the first transcontinental services pioneered by Ethiopian Airlines at the time of African independence, described by Bahru Zewde (2001: p. 187) as cutting 'the umbilical cord that had tied colony and ex-colony to the metropolis'. The paper thus considers significance of the expanded airport as a conduit for the enhanced mobility of people and goods as part of efforts to resignify Ethiopia's place in the continent and the world. It also considers how the material form of the airport both embodies Ethiopia's resistance to neoliberal policy norms through its integration with the country's state-led development strategy, at the same time as it is fostering the country's deepened integration into the (neoliberal) global economy. The paper thus considers Bole International airport as part of Ethiopia's rejection and embrace of neoliberal governmentalities, as well as exploring its political significance, both domestically, regionally and globally.