ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the Senegalese protests in the context of the worldwide social movement in May 1968. Along with Prague, Colombia, Chicago, and Paris, Dakar, Senegal's capital, was a key site of the global youth protest. "May '68" questioned the economic and political conditions in Senegal, ideological matters on a broader scale. The chapter examines the reactions of the state and the general populace to the crisis and how May '68 in Senegal is comparable to May '68 in France and the rest of the world. Dakar had a privileged status as the former federal capital of French West Africa, profiting from its geopolitical position in the space of the former French Empire. The University of Dakar played a major role in the newly independent states as, in effect, an overseas French university—an extension of the French presence in Africa. For several generations of students, the University of Dakar was a crucible for the construction of African solidarity.
