Anti-body Is the Antibody: A Value Proposition for Physical Education

• In Event: Paper Session 1. Working With Diverse Student Populations: Bodies, Touch, and Physical Activity

Abstract

In this paper, I propose an antibody for the low-status and lack of academic legitimacy that has been plaguing Physical Education for a long while now. After understanding the state of the body within teachers’ pedagogical beliefs through semi-structured interviews, I make a radical suggestion to practice a critical pedagogy that focuses on the reduced and absent bodies instead of its presence. The interview data showed that while there was an innate desire to include the body into their pedagogies, the teachers ignored and reduced the complexity to rationalise their behaviour and beliefs. The posthumanistic future is set to change our perception of the body and PE is in a prime position to create the necessary awareness.

Author

• Sarkkunan Viswanathan, University of Auckland