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Paper short abstract:

The paper uses the case study of the new Diamniadio urban plan (Senegal) to examine the gendered impact of constructing a new urban space on lands owned by traditional communities. The redefinition of their culture is explored from a feminist political ecology and anti-colonial perspective.

Paper long abstract:

Building new urban areas from scratch with an administrative and innovative drive is a spreading practice in Africa. However, the construction of the new urban pole on previously traditionally managed and lived land transforms the living conditions and identities of local communities. Communities experience new forms of inequalities and marginalization due to land expropriation, termination of informal traditional land ownership, and professional or residential relocation. The impact of the new plan on local communities is also normative since Western planning and societal models enter previously traditional spaces creating a clash between ancestral customs and the imposed modernization (or Westernization) of the new city.

This paper uses the case study of the new Diamniadio urban plan (Senegal) to examine the gendered impact of new urban spaces over the new productive and reproductive roles of traditional community members, largely overlooked by the literature. A preliminary qualitative data collection showed an increased professional vulnerability for young men who, due to land expropriation, are now forced to emigrate to ensure an income. Women are more easily employed in the new city as housekeepers, which redefines domestic economic dynamics while keeping women within the care sector. The main data collection is expected to take place in 2024.