Today we met in the hotel lobby to go to a welcoming ceremony at the West African Research Center(http://www.warccroa.org/about/) who is one of our sponsoring organizations here in Dakar, Senegal. I reconnect with Marie, one of the excellent associates here who assisted during my Fulbright here in 2016. She and her family are well. Great band, great food. My instagram has a video of some of the festivities.There are 17 of us now.
We crowd into a bus and ride along the cornice---the seaside road----the whole way crowds of young men are jogging on the sand. They seem like cadres or clubs. People are in very good shape. No photos today...not in the mood after an episode this morning coming in from the airport. One of my colleagues, a historian was taking lots of photos on the bus in morning rush hour. Two fellows are on a one story roof looking like they are tanning leather. They realize they are being photographed and get very upset, gesturing---one even making a motion like he was going to "gut" someone with a knife. It is risky to take photos of people here without permission---a lesson I learned on my last trip here. Students: you should google the "colonial gaze". Let's talk about what it means when I return.