Introduction: Connectivity and the postglobal moment: (Dis)connections and social change in Africa

Abstract

This bridge (Figures I.1 and 1.2) inspired me when I (Mirjam) was in Saint-Louis in 2009. It connects Saint-Louis to its colonial past. Louis Faidherbe was the Governor of French West Africa in the nineteenth century and is perceived as one of the “creators” of this relationship. The colonial regime has clearly had an impact on present-day Senegal and, in a way, the bridge represents a connection between the past and the present. The bridge is memory and a memory of the technologies that the French brought. It is a memory of colonial times.