| Summary: | The evolution of spatial relationships in the contemporary context of global changes and globalization promote disease emergence. In this study, we draw a geography of territorial vulnerabilities to the emergence of zoonotic risks. In southeastern Senegal, a changing rural periphery of West Africa, we address the issue of the spread of an invasive species and host of pathogens, the black rat (Rattus rattus). We argue that societies produce territorial systems that are unequally vulnerable to the spatial diffusion of the host.We evidence that the spaces of Southeastern Senegal and the spatial relationships among them are transformed under the action of multiple social actors. The spread of the black rat reflects these changes. Yet, the spatial characteristics of the invaded places (such as connectivity or centrality) as well as the spatial relationships among them are insufficient in understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of the rodent invasion. Moreover, the spatial distribution of the black rat contradicts conventional models of hierarchical or contagious diffusion. The spatial diffusion of the host responds to spaces, places, and spatial links intimately woven by societies into complex and multiscale systems. We propose to understand the many forms of spatial diffusion as the response to the stability or instability of these socio-spatial systems, which then form territories unevenly vulnerable to the risk of disease emergence. L’évolution des mises en liens en réponse aux changements globaux et à la globalisation contemporaine précipite le risque d’émergence infectieuse. Dans cette recherche, nous dressons une géographie des vulnérabilités territoriales face à l’émergence des risques zoonotiques. Notre cas d’étude est celui des dynamiques d’invasion d’un hôte commensal, le rat noir (Rattus rattus), dans les marges orientales du Sénégal, périphérie rurale ouest-africaine en mutation. Nous défendons l’idée que les sociétés façonnent des systèmes territoriaux inégalement vulnérables à la diffusion ...
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