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Inside-Out Houses: Urban Belonging and Imagined Futures in Dakar, Senegal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Caroline Melly
Caroline Melly
Affiliation:
Anthropology, Smith College
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Extract

In every neighborhood of Dakar, Senegal, large houses in various stages of construction stand as witnesses to and evidence of transnational movements of labor and capital. These ambitious building projects, funded by Senegalese migrants living and working abroad, have utterly transformed the city landscape, and their pervasiveness leads many Dakarois to assume that everyone must be migrating. Intended as eventual family homes, investment properties, or a combination of the two, the innovative layouts and architectural flourishes of these not-yet houses echo lives lived elsewhere while drawing on local aesthetics and approaches to spatial design. Though some houses seem to near completion within just a year or two, most structures linger for several years or even a decade, slowly eroding as families and hired contractors wait for money transfers from abroad. Some constructions boast newly laid bricks or fresh paint, while others are obscured by overgrown vegetation and debris.

Type
Research Article
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 37 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 2010

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