Thursday 1/10 Dakar

Dear Readers,
The seminar I am on has us on a very busy schedule, leaving us very little time to reflect. 2-3 one and a half hour lectures a day...... lots of time in a bus.... from 8-9am until 6-7pm at night. I am exhausted and still dealing with a little jet-lag. I shall try to be better at posting but still need to finish syllabi for the upcoming semester in Virginia. Thank you for your patience.

Millennium Statue

Built by the North Koreans! Apparently the last President Abdulai Wade still collects a percentage of the entry fees. Is this corruption? Why or why not?

There are new elections here in late FEB. Current Prez is Macky Sall. Look up his policies and party platform.
 

Sunset, Dakar

Sunset from the Millennium Statue, Dakar. Students, look up the Millennium Statue. What is your reaction? Next pic, the statue itself. Read about my last visit to Senegal in June/July 2016 on this same blog.

 
 

Photo from our transport on Dakar tour

Couple of kids. Dakar, Senegal

 
 

Baobab fruit

Fruit of the Baobab tree. Touching it makes you itch. Monkeys love it. Some fellow crawled up and got our group one and it has been rolling around the bus. Near the parliament building Dakar.

 

Fw: New Recording 10

My first attempt at recording the band at WARC this evening. I hope to get better at it.

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From: Miguel Corrigan <miguelcorrigan@icloud.com>
Sent: Monday, January 7, 2019 3:47 PM
To: Corrigan, Miguel B.
Subject: New Recording 10

 

Sent from my iPhone

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.