My first monograph, Une si longue course: Sport, genre et citoyenneté au Ghana et en Côte d’Ivoire (années 1900-1970) was published in Dec. 2024 (Presses Universitaires de Rennes). Open Access.
This research offers innovative reinterpretations of 20th century African history through the lens of cultural and social practices, particularly the complex interplay between sport, colonialism, and citizenship formation. Grounded in extensive archival research and interviews conducted in West Africa, this study challenges conventional narratives by showing how European physical cultures and African practices became deeply intertwined as newly independent states sought to shape a New African Man. By bringing gender studies into dialogue with sports history, the research contributes to wider historiographical debates on agency, modernity, and transimperial circuits, with particular attention to young women’s participation in sports through schools, clubs, and youth movements, where they contested reconfigured gender regimes.
This book (in French) is based on my PhD thesis, gained at the University of Lausanne and SciencesPo Paris (2014-2019).
I published key findings from this research in English, in a series of academic journals (see here).
Claire Nicolas 