Living with ‘New Diseases’ in Dakar: Embodied Time and the Emergence of Chronicity

Abstract

In this article, I examine how the emergence of chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease reshapes perceptions of time, embodiment, ageing and the life course in the West African city of Dakar. Focusing on the complex, discontinuous and cyclical nature of chronic disease in this context, I argue that experiences of chronicity in Dakar can be analysed using a ‘biocircular’ lens. Biocircular approaches draw attention to new forms of embodied temporality that emerge in the wake of ‘new diseases’. I identify three new forms of embodied time produced and engaged by ailing and ageing people in Dakar. First, chronic symptoms emerge out of time, at unexpected junctures in the life course. Second, chronic diseases are understood to speed up or accelerate body pace. Finally, food can be implicated not just in harmful and risky consumption, but in healing and metabolic repair.