Caringscapes in Urban Senegal: gendered and inter-generational practices of care after the death of a relative

The concept of 'caringscapes' (McKie el al, 2002; Bowlby, 2012) is helpful in analysing time-space practices of informal care, including practical activities of caring as well as the feelings and subjective positions of different actors involved in caring pathways across different temporal and spatial contexts. In this paper, we explore the caringscapes of family members who have experienced the death of a relative in urban Senegal from a gendered and intergenerational perspective. We draw on our initial analyses of in-depth interviews with two generations of family members (29 adults and 30 young people aged 12-30) living in two cities (Dakar and Kaolack) in Senegal, as part of a research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Interviews were also conducted with 20 key informants, comprising local and religious leaders, government and NGO representatives, in addition to four focus groups with groups of women and young people in each urban location. We explore the ways that emotional, practical and material time-space practices of care that adults, young people and community members engage in following the death of a relative are embedded in gendered, inter- and intra-generational relations and provide some initial insights into religious, ethnic and place-based differences.