Paper short abstract:

Focusing on dust, sand, and smoke in an industrial town of Senegal, this paper explores how residents live with increasing breathing difficulties. It traces different forms and histories of sedimentary particles to analyse how citizens' geo-political struggles shape the contested coastal atmosphere.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on the atmosphere of the coastal town of Bargny, now an industrial suburb of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, to understand how the inhabitants narrate, negotiate, and protest – as well as live with(in) – drifts and clouds of dust, sand and smoke. Once a traditional Lebou fishing village, Bargny is marked by a long history of industrialisation and a high concentration of fine dust particles (PM10) that exceeds the national regulatory limits by 400 times. Witnessing an increase in respiratory illnesses, from acute asthma cases to tuberculosis, the inhabitants are actively fighting the impacts of a colonial cement factory, a coal plant, and a new bulk port as well as the planned installation of a steel company. At the same time, they are threatened by the encroachment of the sea and coastal erosion that turn their houses into half ruins. This paper thinks different forms of sedimentary particles together – the increase of dusty and sandy particles in the air and the loss of sand along the coast. I attend to different layers and colours of sediments as they mix with other particles transported by the winds - such as black ashes from the coal plant - and are increasingly brought into public view through the inhabitants’ demonstrations. As the history of industrial pollution meets the erosion of the shore, I analyse how citizens' embodied stories and geo-political struggles create a particularly tumultuous and contested coastal atmosphere.