Figure and vestiges of Antinous in it physical brazilian education

Abstract

This article aims to analyze a specific form of government of bodies in Brazil. It was established in the beginning of the 20th century, having its fundamental ideas taken from the two earlier works of one of the most distinguished intellectuals of that time, Fernando Azevedo. It is in these books that Azevedo tries to bring the hygienist/eugenic doctrine that had been dominating the European scenario to the national Physical Education. He does so by transplanting scientific-pedagogical principles based on European gymnastic methods to the area and incorporating elements of the Greek and Roman cultures idealized by the humanists of his time. Even though his first book - Da educação fí­sica (1915) - is much wider, this analysis has its focus on the second, Antinoüs: estudo da cultura atlética (1919), in which the author takes Antinoüs' body image as eugenic reference for the constitution of the national body. I conclude this paper indicating some connections between such government of bodies and the contemporary movement in favor of an active life style.