This thesis seeks to highlight the importance of a geographic and culturally specific knowledge base to guide natural resource management and governance policy, particularly within the West African context. In order to demonstrate the level of complexity that may exist within this realm, the Kedougou region of Senegal is used as a case study. Traditional Method of Subsistence (TMoS), Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and ethnic diversity are considered in order to validate the need to go beyond a superficial involvement of community within models such as Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM). Focus groups were conducted for this case study in order to identify areas of similarity and difference that exist along ethnic lines. Two areas of concern that all ethnic groups agreed upon was a depletion of water resources and a diminished growing season that leads to an annual food shortage in the region. Three primary areas of difference were found to coincide with traditional ethnic boundaries in the region: traditional religious belief, wealth accumulation and social hierarchy. The findings of this research demonstrate that while areas of cohesive community concern may serve as a focal point for CBNRM programs, it is also important to consider areas of ethnic difference which hold the potential to significantly influence sustainable and equitable resource management. For example, while traction methods for intensified agriculture are identified as important by all ethnic groups represented in this thesis: (A) traditional agricultural ethnic groups already have experience with these methods, and may only need access to assistance such as micro-credit opportunities, (B) the pastoral ethnic groups already have an abundance of traction animals, and so equipment may be what is primarily needed, while (C) the horticultural group may not have access to the land necessary for optimal traction agriculture. It is therefore suggested that CBNRM programs must be structured around community variables found along cultural lines in order to be of value to government and non-government conservation programs and policy formation in the region.

Rural electrification is a critical tool for accelerating and enhancing development throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The challenge for modern policymakers is to identify and implement programs that will effectively facilitate rural electrification. This analysis develops a model for comparing the performance of nations' electrification policies using a fixed effects regression model based on World Bank data from 1990, 2000 and 2010. To identify the key policies for driving rural electrification, this analysis then compares the programs and reforms employed in six nations from Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, three reform measures are identified that are conditional on outside factors for their contribution to success, and three universal policies are identified that may be broadly applied to improve rural electrification throughout the region.

This thesis seeks to highlight the importance of a geographic and culturally specific knowledge base to guide natural resource management and governance policy, particularly within the West African context. In order to demonstrate the level of complexity that may exist within this realm, the Kedougou region of Senegal is used as a case study. Traditional Method of Subsistence (TMoS), Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and ethnic diversity are considered in order to validate the need to go beyond a superficial involvement of community within models such as Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM). Focus groups were conducted for this case study in order to identify areas of similarity and difference that exist along ethnic lines. Two areas of concern that all ethnic groups agreed upon was a depletion of water resources and a diminished growing season that leads to an annual food shortage in the region. Three primary areas of difference were found to coincide with traditional ethnic boundaries in the region: traditional religious belief, wealth accumulation and social hierarchy. The findings of this research demonstrate that while areas of cohesive community concern may serve as a focal point for CBNRM programs, it is also important to consider areas of ethnic difference which hold the potential to significantly influence sustainable and equitable resource management. For example, while traction methods for intensified agriculture are identified as important by all ethnic groups represented in this thesis: (A) traditional agricultural ethnic groups already have experience with these methods, and may only need access to assistance such as micro-credit opportunities, (B) the pastoral ethnic groups already have an abundance of traction animals, and so equipment may be what is primarily needed, while (C) the horticultural group may not have access to the land necessary for optimal traction agriculture. It is therefore suggested that CBNRM programs must be structured around community variables found along cultural lines in order to be of value to government and non-government conservation programs and policy formation in the region.

La thèse présente une analyse sociolinguistique du rôle des langues français et italien dans le cadre migratoire, notamment auprès de la communauté sénégalaise immigrée à Brescia (Italie). Dans la première partie, le premier chapitre est dédié au Sénégal, qui est décrit dans ses traits historiques, culturels, ethniques et religieux, et dont on examine la situation linguistique et sociolinguistique actuelle par rapport aux langues française, wolof et d’autres langues locales. On y décrit également la diaspora sénégalaise en Europe et en Italie dans ses différentes étapes. Le deuxième chapitre se focalise sur Brescia, ville d’élection des migrants sénégalais en Italie, à cause de ses caractéristiques socioéconomiques qui la rendent un territoire particulièrement favorable à la création de réseaux de solidarité entre Sénégalais et autochtones. La deuxième partie est entièrement dédiée à l’analyse sociolinguistique des langues en jeu dans ce contexte, notamment le wolof ainsi que d’autres langues nationales du Sénégal, le français et l’italien. L’enquête se base sur vingt interviews faites à un échantillon de Sénégalais résidents à Brescia, desquelles émergent les pratiques et les représentations linguistiques des sujets par rapport aux langues connues et parlées. Pour amplifier l’éventail de l’enquête on a choisi d’inclure également un échantillon de Sénégalais immigrés à Milan, dont les réponses ont été insérées dans l’analyse générale des pratiques et des représentations linguistiques en question. Les conclusions de la thèse consistent dans un bilan d’ensemble de la recherche et dans une relecture de la méthode adoptée pour l’enquête. / This thesis presents a sociolinguistic analysis of the role of French and Italian language in the migration context, notably in the community of Senegalese immigrants in Brescia (Italy). In the first part, the first chapter is dedicated to Senegal, which is described in its historical, cultural, ethnic and religious features and depicted as far as its current linguistic and sociolinguistic situation is concerned, referring to French, Wolof and other local languages. The evolution of the Senegalese diaspora in Europe and Italy, in its different stages, is treated as well. The second chapter focuses on Brescia, elective hometown of the Senegalese in Italy, because of its socio-economic features which make it a territory particularly favorable to the creation of solidarity networks between Senegalese and Italian people. The second part is entirely dedicated to the sociolinguistic analysis of the languages involved in this context, notably Wolof, along with other national languages of Senegal, French and Italian. The survey is based on twenty interviews made with a sample of Senegalese immigrants in Brescia, from which the linguistic practices and representations of the subjects, about the languages known and spoken, emerge. To expand the scope of the survey, a sample of Senegalese immigrated in Milan has been included as well, and their interviews have been inserted in the general analysis of the linguistic practices and representations under focus. In the conclusions of the thesis, a global view on the research carried out and on the method adopted for the survey will be given.

Dans un contexte d’émergence ou de réémergence des maladies à transmission vectorielle, certaines espèces de Culicoides (Diptera : Ceratopogonidae) sont impliquées dans la transmission de certains virus (Reoviridae : Orbivirus) et de nématodes (Onchocercidae : Mansonella) en région Afrotropicale. Cependant, le schéma systématique et taxonomique ainsi que la bio-écologie des espèces d’intérêt vétérinaire restent à explorer. Ce travail de taxonomie intégrative a pour objectifs de réaliser (i) une révision systématique et taxonomique des espèces appartenant à des sous-genres et des groupes d’intérêt à partir de phylogénie moléculaire multi-marqueur et de délimitation d’espèces, et (ii) de développer des outils moléculaires pour l’étude de la bio-écologie des espèces d’intérêt vétérinaire et de la dynamique de leurs populations d’immatures. Nos résultats mettent en évidence (i) la présence de trois clades monophylétiques le groupe d’espèces Imicola, le groupe d’espèces Milnei et le sous-genre Remmia, (ii) une nouvelle espèce pour la science nommée C. sp. #22 et affiliée au sous-genre Avaritia, groupe Imicola, (iii) la présence d’une nouvelle espèce non-décrite nommée C. sp. #54 appartenant au groupe d’espèces Dasyops, sous-genre Avaritia, (iii) d’affilier les groupes d’espèces Similis et Neavei au sous-genre Synhelea et, (iv) de poser l’hypothèse d’une présence d’espèces cryptiques au sein de C. oxystoma (sous-genre Remmia). D’un point de vue bio-écologique, le travail réalisé combinant suivi entomologique et identification moléculaire avec une librairie de séquences barcodes a permis de décrire le comportement trophique de C. imicola, C. kingi et C. oxystoma ainsi que leurs habitats larvaires dans des environnements équins de la zone des Niayes au Sénégal. L’ensemble de ce travail permet de compléter le corpus de connaissances sur le genre Culicoides en région Afrotropicale afin d’améliorer la compréhension de l’épidémiologie des pathogènes transmis et proposer des pistes de recherches pour mieux contrôler les populations immatures et adultes des espèces vectrices afin de mieux anticiper et prévenir des évènements sanitaires. / In a context of emergence or re-emergence of vector-borne diseases, certain species of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are involved in the transmission of certain viruses (Reoviridae: Orbivirus) and nematodes (Onchocercidae: Mansonella) in the Afrotropical region. However, the systematic and taxonomic schemes as well as the bio-ecology of species of veterinary interest remain to be explored. This work of integrative taxonomy aims to achieve (i) a systematic and taxonomic revision of species belonging to subgenera and groups of veterinary interest using a multi-marker molecular phylogeny and species delineation, and (ii) to develop molecular tools for studying the bioecology of species of veterinary interest and dynamics of their immature populations. Our results show (i) the presence of three monophyletic clades, the Imicola group, the Milnei group and the subgenus Remmia, (ii) a new species for science named C. sp. # 22 and affiliated into the subgenus Avaritia, Imicola group, (iii) the presence of a new undescribed species named C. sp. # 54 belonging to the Dasyops group, subgenus Avaritia, (iii) affiliating the Similis and Neavei species groups to the subgenus Synhelea, and (iv) cryptic species within C. oxystoma (subgenus Remmia). From a bioecological point of view, this work combining entomological follow-up and molecular identification with a library of barcode sequences allowed to describe the trophic behavior of C. imicola, C. kingi and C. oxystoma as well as their larval habitats in equine environments of the Niayes area in Senegal. This work completes the corpus of knowledge about the genus Culicoides in the Afrotropical region to improve our knowledge on the epidemiology of the transmitted pathogens and to propose research tracks to better control the immature and adult populations of the vector species in order to better anticipate and prevent Culicoides-borne diseases outbreaks.

Cette thèse étudie les dynamiques territoriales induites par le développement de la culture irriguée de la banane dessert, dans le sud du Sénégal, dans un contexte de systèmes de production profondément pluviaux et de marginalisation des grandes dynamiques de développement nationales. En tant que culture intensive et marchande, cette innovation agricole pose la question de son adoption, mais surtout de sa rentabilité économique face à l'enclavement et de ses interactions avec les dynamiques locales de développement. Pour répondre à cette question, la thèse s'est appuyée sur des enquêtes qualitatives auprès de divers acteurs de la filière banane (producteurs, commerçants, encadreurs, intermédiaires, etc.) et d'une lecture attentive des mutations en cours au sud du Sénégal. La thèse s'organise ainsi autour de trois parties. La première montre que c'est dans le caractère marginal des régions sud du Sénégal que réside les facteurs naturels et socio­économiques d'émergence de la culture irriguée de la banane. La seconde partie analyse le processus de son intégration dans les stratégies productives des paysans en insistant sur l'organisation de la production et les dynamiques de sa commercialisation. La troisième partie interroge les effets socio-économiques et géographiques de la dynamique de développement de l'innovation bananière dans le sud du Sénégal, en la replaçant au centre des recompositions socio-économiques et environnementales en cours aux niveaux local et régional. Cette thèse est ainsi une contribution à l'étude des «opérations de développement» en milieu rural africain et des possibilités de développement des régions marginalisées en Afrique de l'ouest. / This thesis examines dessert banana cropping development induced territorial dynamics in the southern Senegal region, characterized by highly rained-dependent production systems and by a marginalization of the major national development dynamics. As an intensive and market-oriented crop, this agricultural innovation raises the question of its adoption in rain-fed systems, and above all its economic profitability in an isolation context and its interactions with local development dynamics. To answer this question, this thesis was based on data obtained from qualitative surveys of various banana sector stakeholders (producers, traders, supervisors, intermediaries, etc.) and a careful analysis of the ongoing changes in southern Senegal. The thesis is thus articulated on three axes. The first axis shows that the natural and socioeconomic factors that led to the event of irrigated banana cropping stems from the marginal nature of the southern regions of Senegal. The second part analyzes its integration process into farmers' the productive strategies while emphasizing on produces' organizations, banana production practices and marketing dynamics. Finally, an analysis of the socio-economic and geographical effects of banana cropping innovation dynamic development in southern Senegal, substituting banana innovation at the center of the ongoing socio-economic and environmental reorganizations bath at the local and regional levels. This thesis is thus a contribution to the study of "development operations" in rural Africa and the development opportunities of marginalized areas in West Africa.

Français Tirailleur (FT) är ett pidginspråk som talades av västafrikanska soldateroch deras vita officerare i den franska kolonialarmen cirka 1857-1954. Den häruppsatser beskriver denna språkvatietet utifrån ett korpus som består av de dokumenteradeyttranden som hittills hittats. Studien visar bland annat att standardnegation uttrycks med en pre-verbal partikel (pas), ja/nej-frågor uttryckts främstgenom intonation, genussystemet är inte produktivt, det finns ingen skillnad mellansubjekt och objekt i pronomensystemet och attributiv ägande uttrycks med possessivapronomen, juxtaposition eller prepositioner. Den standardiserade type-token-rationär 26%, vidare forskning om ordförråd i pidginspråk och jämförelser med talat språkbehövs. Det finns två former som är väldigt frekventa och som anses vara mycketkarakteristiska för FT: ya och yena. Dessa former har tidigare beskrivits som stativaverb, relativmarkörer och finithetsmarkörer. De förekommer i majoriteten av alladokument i korpuset. De fungerar som stativa verb, kopula eller kopulalika markörer,samt potentiellt även som predikatsmarkörer. Frågan om huruvida adjektiv är enrelevant språklig kategori i denna pidgin diskuteras också i denna uppsats. / Français Tirailleur (FT) is a pidgin language that was spoken by West Africansoldiers and their white officers in the French colonial army approximately 1857-1954.The aim of this study is to investigate a corpus of previously unanalyzed utterancesof FT in order to discern linguistic structures and test previous statements about thenature of FT. Much of previous literature on FT is based on an anonymous manualpublished by the French military in 1916, this thesis aims to provide new informationto our understanding of this pidgin. These are some of the findings: standardnegation is expressed by means of a preverbal particle (pas), polar interrogation byintonation, grammatical gender is not a productive category and attributive possessionis expressed by possessive pronouns, juxtaposition (possessum - possessor) andprepositional constructions. The standardized type-token-ratio of this corpus, 26%,suggests that the lexicon of pidgins needs to be further studied. Comparisons withcorpuses of spoken language are needed. There are two very frequent pre-predicatemarkers that are considered characteristic of FT: ya and yena. These two markershave previously been described as stative verbs, relativizers and markers of finiteness.The two markers are very frequent in a majority of the sources and are highly polysemous,functioning as stative verbs, copula or copula-like markers and possibly alsopredicate markers. The status of adjectives as a part-of-speech in FT is also discussed.

Le répertoire des bactéries est mal connu en Afrique du fait des méthodes d’étude essentiellement basées sur des techniques de culture sur milieux simples associées à des tests biochimiques, ce qui ne permet pas son exploration. Il a néanmoins été récemment bouleversé par l’usage systématique de la spectrométrie de masse de type MALDI-TOF MS.Au cours de nos travaux de thèse de doctorat, nous avons utilisé deux types de spectromètres de masse: le MALDI-TOF Vitek MS, nouvellement installé à Dakar; le MALDI-TOF Microflex LT, installé à Marseille. Les résultats que nous avons obtenus ont montré, pour la première fois, que la technique du MALDI-TOF est efficace et tout à fait adaptée en Afrique pour le diagnostic spécifique de routine. Cette performance a conduit le laboratoire clinique de l’HPD à opter pour son utilisation à la place des traditionnelles techniques d’identification phénotypique telles que les galeries API. Nous avons également confirmé que le MALDI-TOF est un puissant outil d’identification des espèces bactériennes rarement impliquées dans les maladies infectieuses humaines. De plus, cet outil nous a permis de détecter sept nouvelles espèces de bactéries isolées pour la première fois chez l’homme. En Afrique, il faudrait donc multiplier l’installation de spectromètre de masse MALDI-TOF, ou mettre en place des réseaux autour de plateformes MALDI-TOF sous-régionales partagées entre plusieurs structures sanitaires et/ou de recherche. / The Africa bacteria repertory is unfamiliar because the available tools in this region are not allowed its best knowledge. In fact, bacteria are most often identified using culture techniques on simple media and biochemical tests which enable the identification of some common characters. These methods do not facilitate an exhaustive knowledge of the bacterial repertory; consequently they have recently been revolutionized by the systematic use of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS).In our thesis we used two mass spectrometers, respectively, MALDI-TOF Vitek MS currently installed at Dakar (Senegal) and MALDI-TOF Microflex LT installed in Marseille (France). In addition we have also confirmed that MALDI-TOF is a powerful tool for identifying bacterial species rarely involved in human infectious diseases. Thus in adopting the MALDI-TOF as a first-line tool in bacterial identification before Gram staining or other techniques of phenotypic identifications based on chemical characteristics, we discovered seven new species of bacteria isolated for first time in humans. Microbial identification using MALDI-TOF MS is currently feasible in Africa. Its performance and effectiveness in routine diagnosis of clinical microbiology laboratories have been proven. It is necessary either to increase the installation of MALDI-TOF, or establishing a network around a shared MALDI-TOF platform between several structures located in the same area, especially in the underdeveloped countries of Africa amortization of investment costs of the device, because it allowed reducing the time of reporting results and indirectly facilitating better care for patients.

L'objectif de ce travail doctoral sera de préciser le rôle des associations de migrants dans la circulation de normes et de pratiques politiques entre la France et le Sénégal. on se penchera plus particulièrement sur la façon dont les migrants convertissent les ressources économiques, acquises durant leur migration en France (notamment par le canal associatif), en capitaux symboliques, réinvestis ensuite dans la sphère politique de leur pays d'origine à leur retour. l'analyse des pratiques et discours des migrants de retour permettant précisément d'étudier l'incidence des trajectoires migratoires sur les stratégies politiques déployées par ces citoyens ‘transnationaux'. / How do monetary flows and flows of ideas interrelate as they circulate between new York, Dakar, and Paris ? This thesis shows how economic sociology can encompass and further conclusions relevant to the migration-development nexus. An economic sociological approach reveals that migrants' financial remittances perform a transnational relational work (Zelizer 2005) crtical to the maintenance of reciprocal exchanges across continents. Bringing together studies of economic and social remittances, this project shed light on the mechanisms through which migrants' transfers occur and affect political institutions in home countries. I combine two transnational datasets collected in France, Senegal, and the United States (in 2011-2012) to propose a structural model an inclusive epistemological framework to account for the channels through which the mobility of real and ideational assets affects sending societies

Introduction In Senegal, as in many countries, physicians are unevenly distributed. This situation leads to health inequalities, but the solutions adopted to distribute physicians equitably do not give satisfactory results. This situation pushes decision-makers and researchers to look for other solutions such as telemedicine. This technology-based solution is considered to be a good means to improve physician recruitment and retention in underserved areas, thus improving access to healthcare in these areas, but it is still underused in Senegalese health facilities. Objective This study aimed to identify the determinants of the use of telemedicine in Senegal. More specifically, it aimed to identify the individual (micro) and contextual (meso and macro) factors that influence the use of telemedicine in Senegal. Method The study involved mixed methods: a descriptive qualitative study involving individual interviews and a cross-sectional quantitative study involving questionnaires. The first method was used to study the individual (micro) factors such as physicians’ beliefs on the use of telemedicine and physicians’ perception of the impact of telemedicine on their recruitment and retention in underserved areas. It was also used to study the contextual meso (technical, organizational and ethical) and macro (financial, political, legal and socioeconomic) factors that influence the use of telemedicine. The second method was used to study participants’ intention to use telemedicine in their professional activities, another individual (micro) factor. This study included physicians working in public hospitals, those working in district health, and telemedicine projects managers. Qualitative data was collected through individual interviews, transcribed and imported into NVivo 10 where they were coded thematically. Quantitative data was collected by administering questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS 23. Results The results showed that telemedicine could contribute to, but could not guarantee the recruitment and retention of Senegalese physicians in underserved areas. It was found that physicians in Senegal have both positive and negative behavioural, normative and control beliefs that can encourage or discourage them from using telemedicine in their professional practice. The most salient behavioural beliefs were that telemedicine makes experts’ opinions accessible across distances (positive behavioural belief), but could lead to medical errors (negative behavioural belief). The most common normative beliefs were that their patients would most probably approve the use of telemedicine (positive normative belief) while their colleagues working in the public sector might disapprove of it (negative normative belief). The most reported control beliefs were that the use of telemedicine is easy (positive control belief), but could be time-consuming (negative control belief). For physicians in Senegal, the findings also demonstrate that the probability that they will use telemedicine in their professional activities is moderate and influenced by their perceived behavioural control which, in turn, is influenced by their positive and negative control beliefs. Finally, the results demonstrate that many contextual meso (technical, organizational and ethical) and macro (financial, political, legal and socioeconomic) factors influence the use of telemedicine in Senegal. Conclusion The results of this study can inform the choice of telemedicine development strategies. These strategies can help to promote the use of telemedicine in Senegal, which in turn can help to increase physician recruitment and retention in underserved areas, resulting in better access to healthcare and, and as a result improved population health.