Sporting aspirations Football, wrestling, and neoliberal subjectivity in urban Senegal

On beaches, dusty football pitches, and sandy school courtyards across the Senegalese capital of Dakar, thousands of young men train every day in the hope of becoming professional athletes. Some of them want to become football players and earn contracts in the lucrative championships of the Global North. Others dream of becoming wrestlers, competing in front of huge crowds in Senegal’s wildly popular national pastime. The two sports, football and wrestling, are in many ways opposed to one another. While football presents itself as a modern and international pursuit, wrestling is resolutely oriented towards supposedly traditional values, steeped in ethnic lore and magico-religious practice. Despite these differences, however, the trajectories of the young men aspiring to make it in the two sports are remarkably similar. In both cases, pursuit of the dream requires immense physical effort and comes with a substantial social cost. And in both sports, the chances of sustained success are minimal – and the associated risks considerable. This thesis traces out the emerging forms of neoliberal subjectivity developed by young athletes as they navigate the complex pathways of sporting aspiration.