Resistance Through Enjaillement. Dancing the Coupé-Décalé in Abidjan (Ivory Coast)

When coupé-décalé first appeared in 2002, Ivory Coast was in the throes of a military-political crisis that had a profound effect on the lives of Ivorians. While Ivorian reggae took up the themes of Ivorian identity and xenophobia, evoking “resistance”, “liberation” and “patriotism”, the promoters of coupé-décalé set out to promote joy and excitement. This article reviews these struggles, which are not put into words nor intellectualized, but embodied and played out in extra-ordinary body techniques.