The study of the body is an excellent field from which to investigate how modernity is conceptualized and expressed in any society. The aim of this article is to contribute to a better understanding of modernization processes in the context of African societies through the issue of the social presentation of the body. After a brief discussion on the controversial "tradition-modernity" dichotomy, the article develops a theoretical framework focusing on the relationship that we can establish between social presentation of the body and discourses about modernity. If this issue has an undoubtable interest in the academic milieu, it is undeniable that it also has social relevance and constitutes a clearly political topic as well. Subalternization -whether at the level of class, gender, ethnicity or age- makes use of the social presentation of the body to mark, justify or maintain hierarchical relationships of social order.