Abstract

This article aims to shed light on the «moral economy» (Fassin, 2014) of «traditional » wrestling (làmb) in Dakar through the analysis of the power relations and embodiment processes of historical forces embedded in two wrestling matches. At first, after the research methodology presentation, the «sportification » process of làmb in Senegal is analyzed. Then the preparation and performance of two wrestling matches are described, focusing on the dialectic between body-self and socio-historical contexts. Following an anthropological interpretation of Antonio Gramsci's term of «molecular», two wrestlers' bodies will be considered as the arena of articulation and friction between different hegemonies in a field of historical forces.