Bottleneck ― Moving, Building, and Belonging in an African City

The age of globalization is generally understood as involving the massive movement of people and goods on a scale never before seen in human history. In Mobile Fixations, anthropologist Caroline Melly examines mobility as a cultural value in urban Senegal, paying close attention to the points at which the ideal of mobility meets obstructive realities. Specifically, she conceptualizes embouteillage ? the traffic bottleneck ? as a symbol for the fraught attempts of Dakar’s citizens to construct their own mobile futures. Through case studies of investment agencies, cab companies, investors, state workers, and return migrants, Melly pays keen attention to the chronic uncertainty brought on by structural adjustment and how transnational networks might stand as models of inclusion and exclusion in contemporary Senegalese society. Melly also guides us beyond West Africa’s shores, to the rickety, Europe-bound fishing boats upon which so many immigrants embark to see a different kind of ?mobile future’ abroad, one that too often ends in tragedy. In so doing, the author shows how the consequences of local transformations reach well beyond a country’s or even a continent’s borders. Mobile Fixations is an engaging and accessible work of cultural anthropology, one that will be an invaluable read for anyone interested in contemporary African society and the global implications of urban development.

Caroline Melly is associate professor of anthropology at Smith College.