Between the desert island and the archipelago:mappings and the cartographies of teacher’s perceptions about the masculinities produced in this Physical Education.

Abstract

The present research presents the mappings and the cartographies of Physical Education teacher’s perceptions from the Municipality of Araucaria about the masculinities produced in this precise school discipline. In order to proceed to this ‘geographic’ inquiry, the research was divided into four chapters. In the first one I present the navigational lines followed to compose the masculinities’ archipelago. I articulate Érico Veríssimo’s reflections in the composition of his literary fictional character called Floriano Cambará with the post-structuralist’s theoretical contributions coming from Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Suely Rolnik. In the second chapter I review the literature concerning men studies, taking as my point of depart the contributions supported by gender and feminist studies. In this chapter I also employ the theoretical contributions of Foucault’s genealogical inquiries and of Judith Butler’s reflections concerning compulsory heterosexuality. In the third chapter I proceed to the documental analysis trying to understand how the discipline of Physical Education was conformed in the Araucaria Municipal Educational System, confronting the older Curricular Plan with the new Curricular Directions. In the fourth chapter I proceed to the analysis of the teacher’s speeches trying to understand how they perceive gender and masculinity questions that frequently appear in the school’s everyday life and specifically in the context of the Physical Education discipline. In the conclusion I highlight the fact that the teachers perceive the existence of a variety of masculinities being present during the Physical Education discipline classes.