The politics of risk policies in Dakar, Senegal

The paper presents research on the flood mitigation strategies of urban dwellers and the State in the same locality in the suburbs of Dakar. Through an Actor Network Theory approach based on a “translocal” ethnography of risk, the paper explores the risk narratives and their commensurate logics of action that are shaping emergent paradigms of risk management in the capital city of Senegal. Conceiving of risk policies as controversial fields, the paper thus highlights the political meanings of risk management in West African cities.