Encountering mobility (in)justice through the lived experiences of fishing communities in Dakar and Saint Louis, Senegal

Abstract

Placing attention on counter narratives from fishing communities in Dakar and Saint Louis in Senegal, we present how the climate crisis and its complex nexus with (im)mobility is instrumentalized to mask the underlying structural causes. We evidence the intertwined impacts of the climate crisis as rooted in global unequal structures, state-level fishing agreements, and global and local waste (mis)management on lives and livelihoods through the lens of mobility justice. Mimi Sheller’s concept of ‘mobility justice’ reflects the interconnecting strands that emerge from the interdisciplinary research project ClimateOfChange on which the paper is based: the right to mobility, the right to live in a healthy environment, and the unequal access to such rights across the globe. Our aim within this paper is to deconstruct depoliticised narratives of the climate crisis, particularly those related to so-called ‘climate migrants’ and instead to unravel the ongoing colonial continuities underpinning the climate crisis and the structures of racial capitalism that create socio-spatial inequalities in environment and mobility. Empirical data is drawn from qualitative research conducted with local people/activists, including a one-month climate diary capturing visual perceptions of mobility (in)justice.

Keywords:

• Climate crisis
• migration
• mobility justice
• Senegal
• visual methods

Acknowledgements

Thanks must go first of all to Pierluigi Musarò and Elisa Magnani, with whom we conducted the fieldwork in Senegal. We also acknowledge the input of our colleagues in the Unibo Research Team Susanna Villani, Elisa Iori, Marco Borraccetti and Matteo Vittuari, with whom we worked on the project ClimateofChange. Many thanks to the journal editors and anonymous reviewers for their patience and assistance in strengthening the manuscript. But most importantly, huge thanks must also go to our facilitators in Senegal, Modou Mbaye and Mamadou Diaw, for their invaluable support, as well as our research participants for offering their time and precious insights. All opinions expressed are the authors’ own.

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the EU commission DEAR programme (Development Education and Awareness Raising) for the project ‘End Climate Change, Start Climate of Change. A Pan-European Campaign to build a better future for climate induced migrants, the human face of climate change. (2020–2023) under [Grant number CSO – LA/2019/410-153].