Day 8 - Lectures at WARC

Not too much to report today.  My sunburn’s finally starting to fade a bit.  It was pretty bad for a while there because I kept going back to the beach, and sunscreen does absolutely nothing for me when I’m by the ocean.  My skin feels kind of leathery in places, which is probably not particularly good, but at least I’m getting more than ten minutes of sleep a night.  We spent today at WARC, with a guest lecturer giving a presentation on Gorée Island.  To be honest, most of us were pretty lost for the majority of the lecture, because he was using Wolof words and then doing a really bad job of explaining what they meant in French, but I think the main points of the lecture were that the island has more significance today as a tourist trap than it ever did as a slave port, there were many more significant ports towards the south, and an explanation of Africa’s role in Triangle Trade.  One of the points that I found interesting was the value of slaves.  Apparently, one gun was worth seven slaves, and one horse was worth ten.  It’s crazy how little they valued human life… In the afternoon, our Senegalese partners came to WARC, and we all watched a film and had a debate about the role of hip-hop and democracy in Senegal.  It’s strange how much perceptions can change in another country.  In the U.S. hip-hop tends to be mostly rappers whining about how rough they used to have it, since the majority of them are fairly well-off by the time their music reaches American ears.  In Senegal, the music is used as a way of expressing political displeasure.  The majority of the population here is fairly young, so those who are trying to start a movement find that this is the best method to get their opinions heard.  The graffiti here also seems to be mostly political.  People are clearly very interested in both local and international politics.  Although Senegal is considered to be one of the most democratic nations in Africa, the people here feel that democracy is an exaggeration, because they do not truly feel liberated.  They feel very conflicted when they vote, and many presidents get re-elected not because the people support their policies, but because they often do not seem to have a better option.