African cities are at increasing risk for disasters, including floods. Pikine, Senegal—located on the outskirts of the Dakar metropolitan region—has experienced regular floods since 2005 due to a rising water table, dense settlement, and inadequate drainage. The goal of this research was to assess household experiences of floods through in-depth qualitative interviews in one area of Pikine. A total of 44 households were interviewed on the economic and health impacts of flooding and their perceptions of flood mitigation strategies. Our research confirmed that floods create substantial economic and health burdens for families and that infrastructure projects have helped, but not solved, the flooding issues. Our research also had some unexpected findings, particularly relating to concerns over drinking water, land tenure and housing prices, and perception of government intervention.

Instagram – the widely popular photo sharing app – impacts how people imagine places, making it a useful platform for cultural geographers to examine the power of representation in our contemporary era. Utilizing visual methodologies, we analyze popular images on Instagram that deal with the topic of everyday life in Africa to understand not only what gets represented but what resonates with viewers/consumers. Our analysis focuses on one of the most popular Africa-themed Instagram accounts – @everydayafrica – to interrogate the power of social media platforms on geographic imaginations. To get at user perceptions, we collected information on which images were most liked and commented on and analyzed whether these images reinforce or work against extant stereotypes of Africa to interrogate how and whether decolonial resistance in representation is possible on a digital platform dependent on sharing and liking content. We used postcolonial scholarship to identify controlling images of the continent and examined whether users were more responsive to common tropes. Overall, we found that the most-liked images reinforce existing stereotypes and in so doing replicate the colonial gaze. We contend that the way Africa is visually consumed has real, material consequences.

Public art installations are part of university campuses across the United States, and these installations can be useful in teaching important geographic concepts, skills, and geovisualization tech...

This article outlines a faculty-led, interdisciplinary study abroad program to Dakar, Senegal, in 2014 and 2016 sponsored by South Dakota State University (SDSU) and hosted by the West African Rese...