An essay on the genesis of a work: The reflexive and political anthropology of Jean-Marie Brohm

Generally, commentators relate the emergence of the radical critique of competitive sport to a social, political, and cultural context (May ’68), and recall its theoretical connections (Freudo-Marxism). This approach is similar to a sociology that places works in context, either in the logic of reflection or in that of the interests of a group or a social class. Contrary to this external reading, this article seeks to reveal the constituent power of Jean-Marie Brohm’s sociological work, which is given as subjectivity, reflexivity, and exploration of the limits of the conceivable. It is therefore a question of going back to the founding gesture, of following the path of a thought that is both critical and clinical, and of showing its originality and fertility. At the same time, it is a question of lifting the implicit or tacit obscurity of creative work and not allowing the lack of knowledge of a fundamental part of the work to persist—a lack of knowledge relating to the structure of the field and its mode of receiving criticism. When we examine the author’s work as a whole, we can clearly see a philosophical anthropology that is not at all a scholarly endeavor and owes nothing to a contemplative stance. Its invariant is a transformative practice of the subject of knowledge and a critique of the various forms of alienation.