This paper deals with the spatial implications of the French sanitary policies in early colonial urban Senegal. It focuses on the French politics of residential segregation following the outbreak of the bubonic plague in Dakar in 1914, and their precedents in Saint Louis. These policies can be conceived as most dramatic, resulting in a displacement of a considerable portion of the indigenous population, who did not want or could not afford to build à l’européen, to the margins of the colonial city. Aspects of residential segregation are analysed here through the perspective of cultural history and history of colonial planning and architecture, in contrast to the existing literature on this topic. The latter dilates on the statutory policies of the colonial authorities facing the 1914 plague in Dakar, the plague's sociopolitical implications, and the colonial politics of public health there. In the light of relevant historiography, and a variety of secondary and primary sources, this paper exposes the contradictions that were inherent in the French colonial regime in West Africa. These contradictions were wisely used by the African agency, so that such a seemingly urgent segregationist project was actually never accomplished. 1. A Note on Historiography The aim of this paper is to explore the spatial aspects of French sanitary policies in early colonial, urban Senegal, focusing on Dakar and Saint Louis. The spatial analysis of the French politics of residential segregation following the outbreak of bubonic plague in Dakar in 1914 (and previous cases both there and in Saint Louis) can be illuminating, based upon the existing literature on the topic. Consisting of just a few works, this literature deals less with the cultural history of urban planning and architecture, and more with the statutory policies of the colonial authorities facing the 1914 plague (Seck, Salleras), the plague's sociopolitical implications (Betts, M'Bokolo), and the colonial politics of public health there (Echenberg) [1–5]. A wider historiographic view reveals that critical works on the history of colonial sanitary and public health policies in sub-Saharan Africa is a bourgeoning field, though the urban space per se is not normally their main focus. (See, for instance (partial list, in chronological order): [6–10].) The history of colonial urban space in sub-Saharan Africa has also become a growing field. It can be argued in general that the anglophone research tradition into the colonial urban sphere in Africa has dealt with history-in-the-city, the history of social movements and
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