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ETHNOGRAPHY ON THE ROAD: INFRASTRUCTURAL VISION AND THE UNRULY PRESENT IN CONTEMPORARY DAKAR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2013

Caroline Melly
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Abstract

During his term as President, Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal sought to make tangible and proximal his ‘vision’ for the country's future through the construction and rehabilitation of vital arteries in the capital, Dakar. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research, this essay takes as its focus these ambitious road projects and their local interpretations and everyday effects. I argue that Dakar's infrastructural transformation made spectacularly visible not only distant and implausible futures but also a very particular vision of the present that rationalized, emphasized, and even celebrated the everyday hardships wrought by infrastructural change. Avowedly ahistorical and centred squarely on the individual, these discourses of hardship cast infrastructural change as a future-focused project brought about through ‘temporary’ inconveniences and disruptions endured for the sake of the nation. What emerges from this analysis is a more complex view of neo-liberal reform and urban change in contemporary Africa.

Résumé

Durant sa présidence, le Sénégalais Abdoulaye Wade a cherché à rendre tangible et proximale sa « vision » du futur du pays en construisant et en réaménageant de grandes artères dans la capitale, Dakar. S'inspirant de nombreuses recherches ethnographiques, cet essai porte sur ces projets routiers ambitieux, leurs interprétations locales et leur impact au quotidien. L'auteur soutient que la transformation infrastructurelle de Dakar a rendu spectaculairement visibles non seulement des futurs éloignés et invraisemblables, mais aussi une vision très particulière du présent qui a rationnalisé, souligné et même célébré les difficultés du quotidien provoquées par le changement infrastructurel. Manifestement anhistoriques et carrément centrés sur l'individu, ces discours de la difficulté présentent le changement infrastructurel comme un projet orienté vers le futur engendré au travers d'inconvénients et de perturbations « temporaires » endurés pour le bien de la nation. Il ressort de cette analyse une vue plus complexe de la réforme néolibérale et du changement urbain en Afrique contemporaine.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 83 , Issue 3 , August 2013 , pp. 385 - 402
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2013 

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