Urban Imaginaries in Senegalese Literature: A Mixed Methods Exploration of Contemporary Representations

Urbanization in Senegal has accelerated over recent decades, influencing both social structures and cultural representations. Contemporary African literature often reflects these changes through urban settings, but little research explores how Senegalese writers depict contemporary urban life. The research utilizes a comprehensive approach that includes an initial screening of contemporary Senegalese novels, followed by detailed qualitative content analysis. A subsequent quantitative thematic mapping will classify urban settings by thematic prominence across all selected texts. Among the analysed works, themes such as economic disparities and cultural integration are recurrent, with significant geographic clustering in Dakar and its environs reflecting contemporary urban development patterns. The study reveals a nuanced understanding of urban Senegalese life through literature, highlighting both challenges and opportunities. The mixed methods approach effectively bridges qualitative depth with quantitative breadth for comprehensive analysis. Further research could explore the impact of digital media on urban representation in contemporary African literature, complementing textual analysis with online data. Senegalese Literature, Urban Imaginaries, Mixed Methods Study, Contemporary Africa