Paper short abstract:

Pipeline disruptions remain key to Africa's future-making as they entangle citizens' economic, social and political experiences, especially the youth. Hence, there is a need to understand Africa's future-making through the lens of energy infrastructure disruptions.

Paper long abstract:

Crude oil cooking, a form of pipeline disruption, involves refining illegally tapped crude oil from pipelines in creeks and bushes of local communities using homegrown technology, resources, and skills. The practice entangles people's everyday social, political, economic, and cultural life within the Niger Delta. Studies attribute this illicit economic practice to the activities of groups of youths who use crude technology in makeshift infrastructure to redefine energy practices that compete with multinational oil corporations and provide a source of livelihood and wealth for themselves. Other studies contend that the practice is not poverty induced but a product of the country's mode of extractive governance that fails to resolve the contested issues of ownership and benefit sharing. Hence, many youths continue to enter this illicit economic space despite its precarious nature. Those involved in crude oil cooking are increasingly sandwiched between the risky possibility of related explosions and the government’s attempt to stop the practice by burning cooking camps and boats with products. The study addresses the questions, what does the practice of crude oil cooking mean to the youths? How do they navigate the hazardous environment of crude oil cooking? What are the everyday experiences of creating wealth and livelihood through crude oil cooking? The study draws from my ongoing doctoral research to understand future-making through the lens of energy infrastructure disruptions. It uses ethnography, informal conversations, and visual methods to illuminate the everyday life of youths and future making around spaces of artisanal oil cooking.