MESOPOLHIS is delighted to welcome Estelle Fossey from 20 to 29 October 2025..

Doctorate in sociology, Estelle Fossey is a researcher at the Groupe Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur les Cultures et les Identités (GIRCI), the social and human sciences laboratory at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) in Dakar. She is also a lecturer in the sociology of art at UCAD's Institut Supérieur des Arts et des Cultures (ISAC), where she heads the Research and Innovation Department.

His visit is part of the Observatory of cultural audiences and practicescoordinated by Sylvia Girelto study the system and set up a similar observatory in Dakar.

🔎 Project title and summary :

Preliminary study for setting up an observatory of audiences, cultural practices and cultural policies in Senegal

Senegal, an attractive country in terms of its cultural offer, still has few tools in terms of cultural engineering, and this is reflected in the problem of matching cultural offer and demand. By equipping the country with an observatory capable of producing quantified data, we will be providing Senegal with an effective tool at the service of professionals in the world of art and culture, as well as public policies working in this sector. We therefore have three objectives: to report on the cultural practices of the Senegalese so as to be able to offer something that matches demand; to identify cultural audiences so as to equip cultural establishments with real know-how in terms of audience policy and management; and finally to evaluate the public policies implemented in the country so as to be able to propose measures that are adapted to the country's social and economic realities and thus promote access to art and cultural establishments. This project is linked to my university discipline, sociology, and aims to democratise cultural practices and cultural audiences in the country. This is a major issue for Senegal, where culture remains largely in the hands of a social, cultural and economic elite.

📨 Contact : estelleannetterolande.fossey[at]ucad.edu.sn