Transnational Senegal River development, 1920-2000
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Environmental bodies, such as rivers, rebel against political frontiers, and seldom conform to man-made borders. Transnational Senegal River Development, 1920-2000 reveals that regional-level coordination and collaboration between postcolonial African nations in the Senegal River basin was an important strategy for the development and management of the river. Drawing on research in France, Mali, Senegal, and the United States, this research tells a new story of environmental governance in Africa. Chapter 1 looks at French colonial development activities in the Senegal basin. The long afterlife of colonial-era Senegal River development plans calls into question whether a timeline focusing on decolonization is the only salient way to look at West African history, as do continuities in engineering expertise between the colonial and postcolonial eras. Chapter 2 analyzes the appeal of regional and pan-African political organizations during decolonization. It also focuses on the failure of transnational organizations centered on the Senegal River to provide broad regional unification and explicates the formation of an organization named the Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur de Fleuve Sénégal (Senegal River Development Authority or OMVS) in 1972. Beginning in the late-1960s, severe drought and famine ravaged the Sahel. Environmental crisis provided an opportunity for the OMVS. It mobilized concerns about famine to pitch its river development scheme as a long-term solution to food insecurity, and Chapter 3 explains how the OMVS obtained financing for dam projects during the 1970s. Case studies of the construction and consequences of two major dams, Manantali and Diama illustrate gaps between the OMVS' development rhetoric and actual practices, as well as unintended consequences of river management. Chapter 4 focuses on the planning and construction of Manantali Dam and town, the largest and most complex project the OMVS executed. Chapters 5 and 6 investigate the consequences of the integrated Senegal River management plan put forward by the OMVS for river basin populations. Chapter 5 looks at the Manantali Resettlement Program, while Chapter 6 considers downstream effects. The dissertation concludes by explaining how, during the 1990s, the OMVS decentralized due to funder pressures, losing much of its power to shape riverine sovereignty. Nonetheless, it remained a force for transnational river management in West Africa and a global model
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2020; ©2020 |
| Publication date | 2020; 2020 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Wall, Rebecca Elizabeth |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Roberts, Richard L, 1949- |
| Thesis advisor | Roberts, Richard L, 1949- |
| Thesis advisor | Ferguson, James, 1959- |
| Thesis advisor | Hanretta, Sean, 1972- |
| Thesis advisor | Hecht, Gabrielle |
| Degree committee member | Ferguson, James, 1959- |
| Degree committee member | Hanretta, Sean, 1972- |
| Degree committee member | Hecht, Gabrielle |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of History. |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Rebecca Elizabeth Wall |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of History |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2020 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2020 by Rebecca Elizabeth Wall
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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