WARC Tour & Reflections

Today we had another round of orientation at the WARC (West African Research Center) which included an overview of the readings we did over the summer, a tour of the WARC and discussion about our internships for the second half of the program. The facilities are pretty nice, there is a main classroom where we have the majority of our classes and a second one where we have our French class on Fridays. There is also a computer room and they have wifi throughout the facility. They also have a library which looks pretty nice and I definitely plan on renting some books from there by some well known Senegalese authors like Cheikh Anta Diop and Leopold Sengor to read.

WARC

WARC

The Main Classroom

After class all of us went to a store called MyShop to sit down have some snacks and drinks. While talking with the other MSID participants about our time in Dakar one girl explained that she didn't feel she had the right to tell the people in this country how they can develop themselves and improve their lives, being that the focus of our studies was International Development. She even felt a sense of guilt just sitting at that shop and having a snack, almost as thought she was imposing herself on the Senegalese sitting around us just by her presence. She then explained that when we were on the bus tour around the city during the second day she felt at times as though she was looking out the window at the Senegalese like they were animals. I didn't feel any sentiment of anger at this comment but I immediately thought about the society that produced the images and ideas which caused her to have this perception of Africans as animals. It could have been just the fact that we were not speaking with the people who we were looking at so she felt disconnected from them, like one does when their at the zoo looking at animals. However the people we saw on the streets weren't in cages, and they weren't there for our entertainment. Nonetheless, I thought it was an interesting comment and it definitely pointed out a difference in our perceptions because as I looked out the window during our tours I thought more about the all of the differences in the life experiences between myself and the people at whom I was looking. I really appreciated opportunities like these to sit down with the other students and get their opinions about our time here in Senegal because sometimes people are hesitant to express themselves fully in class during formal discussion.

Then on our way back to our host families my friend Brittany asked me why I came to Senegal for the MSID program. I said that I first wanted to study abroad to improve my French however I didn't want to do so in a First World country or Western Civilization/European country. Also I had never been to the continent of Africa so studying in any African French speaking country seemed like the best idea to me (although this is also a difficult situation because the fact that any African country speaks French is due to some form of colonization by a European country, France). Additionally having the opportunity to spend 3 1/2 months in Senegal with the only purpose of my trip being to study, learn, reflect and enjoy myself is definitely a once in a life opportunity. After researching the country of Senegal and the city of Dakar as well as the program, I definitely felt like it was the best decision.

She then asked me if I felt like I was more at home in Senegal which was a difficult question because I thought that in no way could a completely foreign country on a continent which I have never been to actually feel like home because it lacks the sense of familiarity that any place which I would consider home would have, so I said no. However home for me is also a place where you are very comfortable and at ease, and just the simple fact that everyone one in the country is of the same skin color as I provides me with a sense of comfort, for some reason, that I do not have in the US. Additionally I explained that home also represents a place of origin so technically Africa is home because those that came before me were removed from Africa, and I am an American as a result of that involuntary process of removal. However, I was born and raised in America, my experience is America, as well as the experiences of my mom and dad and their parents, and so I am an African-American.

Later that night that Brittany's host brother, Yousou asked me if I knew where my family was from in Africa.

"Savez-vous dans quel pays votre famille est originaire de l'Afrique?"

I responded that I didn't and I felt a little embarrassed in that moment because I wondered if I didn't know my origin country then could I relate to my friends host brother anymore than my friend from Minnesota? Likely not because we were both American, although I knew I could find out the answer with a blood test and at the time I felt the desire to do so. I felt like having more a sense of origin would also give me more piece of mind in terms of my own sense of identity. Although my perception of personal identity is solely focused on the individual which is in contrast to the communal sense of identity prevalent in Senegal, as one's identity here comes from their community, family and lineage. So in that case my identity is defined by my mother and father, my aunts, uncles cousins and grandparents.