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This thesis is the result of an ethnographic study conducted between 2011 and 2012, primarily through participant observation, on certain defense practices that have emerged in recent years in Egypt and contributed to a "revolutionary" security market. Self-defense classes (difā'a 'an al-nafs), the popularity of which has continued to grow since 2011 in socially affluent districts of Cairo, are at the heart of this research. The dissertation conceives of self-defense trainings as not only revealing but also producing "revolutionary" physical and technical repertoires in which the emotional, gendered, social and moral dimensions of the period's political upheavals are embodied. Women – but sometimes also men – come to the self-defense classes to acquire combat skills such as throwing kicks and punches, learning to face aggressors using specific objects and bodily techniques. The notion of "play" is used as a theoretical tool for drawing together and analyzing the different levels of meaning of the paradoxical experiences observed in these classes. The ethnography allows for a better understanding of the evolution of urban sociability, the transformation of representations and uses of violence, and the reconfiguration of gender and class relations in contemporary Egyptian society. By making visible the technical dimension of how individuals deal with power and the socially and sexually situated modalities by which categories such as "legitimacy" and "illegitimacy" are produced with respect to violence, self-defense constitutes a valuable vantage point from which to contribute to an anthropology of the Egyptian revolution. ; Depuis 2011, la révolution égyptienne et ses contrecoups ont suscité au Caire l'émergence d'un véritable marché de la sécurité. Cette thèse est le fruit d'une enquête ethnographique, menée en observation participante, relative à différentes pratiques de défense ayant émergé dans ce cadre. Les cours de self-défense (difā'a 'an al-nafs), dont le succès ne cesse de se confirmer dans les quartiers ...

This thesis is the result of an ethnographic study conducted between 2011 and 2012, primarily through participant observation, on certain defense practices that have emerged in recent years in Egypt and contributed to a "revolutionary" security market. Self-defense classes (difā'a 'an al-nafs), the popularity of which has continued to grow since 2011 in socially affluent districts of Cairo, are at the heart of this research. The dissertation conceives of self-defense trainings as not only revealing but also producing "revolutionary" physical and technical repertoires in which the emotional, gendered, social and moral dimensions of the period's political upheavals are embodied. Women – but sometimes also men – come to the self-defense classes to acquire combat skills such as throwing kicks and punches, learning to face aggressors using specific objects and bodily techniques. The notion of "play" is used as a theoretical tool for drawing together and analyzing the different levels of meaning of the paradoxical experiences observed in these classes. The ethnography allows for a better understanding of the evolution of urban sociability, the transformation of representations and uses of violence, and the reconfiguration of gender and class relations in contemporary Egyptian society. By making visible the technical dimension of how individuals deal with power and the socially and sexually situated modalities by which categories such as "legitimacy" and "illegitimacy" are produced with respect to violence, self-defense constitutes a valuable vantage point from which to contribute to an anthropology of the Egyptian revolution. ; Depuis 2011, la révolution égyptienne et ses contrecoups ont suscité au Caire l'émergence d'un véritable marché de la sécurité. Cette thèse est le fruit d'une enquête ethnographique, menée en observation participante, relative à différentes pratiques de défense ayant émergé dans ce cadre. Les cours de self-défense (difā'a 'an al-nafs), dont le succès ne cesse de se confirmer dans les quartiers ...

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