Présentation de soi et techniques du corps: les élections Miss au Burkina Faso

Abstract

Beauty contests in Burkina Faso are a very important moment for girls, especially underprivileged girls, for whom they are a means of obtaining social recognition and finding a way out of poverty. That is why, in their view, any possible means can be used to win the competition. Paradoxically, the aesthetic canons that long presided over the designation of beauty are being challenged and there is a growing tendency to copy the Western model. The aim of this contribution is to review the process that has led to a certain liberation of the body. In this regard, several physical techniques and games of seduction and domination are used, particularly since the body has become a form of capital used in social investment.