[ La formation du champ du football au Sénégal: Enjeux et fonctions (1960-2002) ]
Volume 44, Issue 3, January 2025, Pages 558–570
Hameth Dieng1
1 Enseignant chercheur au département des Sciences et Techniques et des Activités Physiques et Sportives (STAPS) de l’UFR des Sciences de l’Education, de la Formation et du Sport de l’Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, Senegal
Original language: French
Copyright © 2025 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This study examines the development of the domain of football, the representations attached to it, and the functions it fulfilled between 1960 and 2002. The research aims to elucidate how an activity initially perceived as trivial gradually acquired cultural significance, ultimately functioning as a structured social space. At what precise moment did a distinct field, with its own operational rules, personnel, and stakes, come into existence? This approach is essential, as it reveals the profound impact of social, cultural, and political processes on the establishment of this space. To investigate the formation of the football domain in Senegal, the study predominantly utilizes a diachronic and synchronic analysis of a documentary corpus, which includes academic research and newspaper clippings covering the specified period. This documentary analysis is further enriched by interviews conducted within each defined temporal sequence. The study identifies four distinct phases in the process of forming and consolidating the football field in Senegal. Findings indicate that a unique space dedicated to this sport emerged, establishing principles and criteria that serve to classify and stratify individuals within society. As football gained legitimacy, its influence extended significantly over citizens’ daily lives, as well as over the strategies of public authorities, individuals, and groups. It has evolved into a primary consensual platform, fulfilling vital political and social functions, while constructing new social representations associated with football’s societal status.
Author Keywords: domain, stakes, function, representation.
Volume 44, Issue 3, January 2025, Pages 558–570
Hameth Dieng1
1 Enseignant chercheur au département des Sciences et Techniques et des Activités Physiques et Sportives (STAPS) de l’UFR des Sciences de l’Education, de la Formation et du Sport de l’Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, Senegal
Original language: French
Copyright © 2025 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
This study examines the development of the domain of football, the representations attached to it, and the functions it fulfilled between 1960 and 2002. The research aims to elucidate how an activity initially perceived as trivial gradually acquired cultural significance, ultimately functioning as a structured social space. At what precise moment did a distinct field, with its own operational rules, personnel, and stakes, come into existence? This approach is essential, as it reveals the profound impact of social, cultural, and political processes on the establishment of this space. To investigate the formation of the football domain in Senegal, the study predominantly utilizes a diachronic and synchronic analysis of a documentary corpus, which includes academic research and newspaper clippings covering the specified period. This documentary analysis is further enriched by interviews conducted within each defined temporal sequence. The study identifies four distinct phases in the process of forming and consolidating the football field in Senegal. Findings indicate that a unique space dedicated to this sport emerged, establishing principles and criteria that serve to classify and stratify individuals within society. As football gained legitimacy, its influence extended significantly over citizens’ daily lives, as well as over the strategies of public authorities, individuals, and groups. It has evolved into a primary consensual platform, fulfilling vital political and social functions, while constructing new social representations associated with football’s societal status.
Author Keywords: domain, stakes, function, representation.
Abstract: (french)
Cette étude analyse la formation du champ du football, les représentations qui s’y attachent et les fonctions qu’il remplit dans la période 1960-2002. L’objectif est de comprendre comment une activité considérée comme futile au début finit par acquérir une signification et fonctionner comme un espace ? Quand exactement un champ spécifique, ayant ses règles de fonctionnement, ses personnels, ses enjeux s’est-il mis en place ? Cette approche nous paraît pertinente dans la mesure où elle révèle l’importance des processus sociaux, culturels et politique dans la formation de cet espace. Pour saisir la formation du champ du football au Sénégal, l’étude s’est appuyée essentiellement sur l’analyse diachronique et synchronique d’un corpus documentaire composé de travaux de recherches et de coupures de journaux couvrant la période retenue. L’analyse du corpus documentaire est accompagnée d’entretiens réalisés à l’intérieur de chaque séquence temporelle. Cette étude a permis d’identifier quatre états successifs distincts dans le processus de formation et de consolidation du champ du football au Sénégal. Il ressort qu’un espace particulier d’une pratique sportive s’est constitué en créant des principes et des critères qui parviennent à classer et hiérarchiser les hommes dans la société. Devenant plus légitime, le football pèse de plus en plus sur la vie quotidienne des citoyens, sur la stratégie des pouvoirs publics, des individus et des groupes. Il devient un argument consensuel de premier ordre et remplit des fonctions politiques et sociales. De nouvelles représentations sociales en rapport avec le statut du football dans la société sont construites.
Author Keywords: champ, enjeu, fonction, représentation.
How to Cite this Article
Hameth Dieng, “The formation of the football field in Senegal: Issues and functions (1960-2002),” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 558–570, January 2025.
