Uncertain is the Dakar-by-night

When the nocturnal possibilities challenge the diurnal reality

Abstract

Taking Dakar as an ethnographic site, this article considers the topic of urban night in the light of uncertainty and indetermination, notably by relocating this questioning in the broader perspective of “liquefaction” dynamics that characterize our present times. In the urban Senegalese context, what is generically termed “uncertain” appears intrinsically heterogeneous and calls for a more detailed examination, in connection with local sociohistorical configurations, and with regard to the concrete experiences and social uses of (nocturnal) uncertainty. These reflections are then deepened through a joint approach of the two notions of nocturnality and mobility, in particular with regard to the idea of a change in progress and thus, by definition, uncertain and indeterminate.