Au-delà de quelques pas de danse… Les usages des apparences physiques au cœur de la sociabilité estudiantine

Abstract

Major surveys in France present student lifestyles as being closely intertwined with leisure activities and “going out”, and, most particularly, with athletic activities. Because the last mentioned afford the occasion for getting together with one’s own kind, the peer group representing one of the two poles of student sociability. Because they help them “meet people”, seduction strategies developing greatly at that time of life. This article proposes exploring in situ what is at stake at the heart of an activity propo­sed by the university athletic services, right in the situations, right with the actors. Thus salsa courses, which were added to the university’s athletic activities offer some ten years ago, seem ideal laboratories for studying the process of student socialization. In relying on a survey carried out using ethnographic observations and interviews, this article shows how the methods of practicing this activity participate in a certain form of student sociability.

Keywords

• gender
• physical appearance
• sociability
• student
• look