Paper Short Abstract:

Coastal communities are facing multiple risks such as submersion and erosion. Here, we discuss how relocation in emergency shapes senses of place and vulnerabilities of a fisher community in Senegal, and how this community constructs or undergoes coastal management in the face of risks.

Paper Abstract:

In a context of climate change and high demographic pressure along the coasts, coastal management has to face increasing coastal risks, and deal with the relocation in emergency of thousands of people in Africa. Through this process, hard-infrastructures such as dykes are promoted in the short-term when funding is available, but the relocation is perceived as unavoidable and necessary to protect people from coastal risks. However, communities’ dependence and attachment to place is rarely considered – just as the renewed vulnerabilities created by relocation. In this talk, we present the results of a survey conducted among 160 members of a coastal community in Senegal – strongly culturally and economically attached to the sea. While 80 of them have lost their homes during a submersion in 2018 and have been relocated 8km far from the coast, another 80 still live behind a dyke inaugurated in 2023, but should be relocated by 2025. In this context, we study how vulnerabilities and senses of places have evolved for both communities, as well as their involvement in coastal management policies. We highlight how relocation in emergency reinforced the feeling of attachment to the coast, created renewed vulnerabilities, but also led to a reinvention of place that is still ongoing. We open a discussion on the role of social researchers and on the mobilization of transdisciplinary approaches – especially using participatory theater – to reveal such dynamics and support more inclusive approaches of coastal risks management.