Emotions, Physical education and gender: an ethnography in a public school in Porto Alegre, RS

Abstract

Based on a perspective of emotions as a formative element of the body, which plays a fundamental role in social relations; and gender as a social construction that is a product and effect of power relations, the objective of this study is to describe and analyze the relations between emotions and gender in Physical Education classes in the final years of elementary school in a public school in Porto Alegre, Brazil.  Rio Grande do Sul. This ethnography used participant observation and records in a field diary throughout the 2023 school year as data production sources. The research, carried out in the reality of the school, constructed two major categories of analysis: 1) Established, popular and dissonant: the arrangement of groups in Physical Education classes and; 2) Emotions and gender in Physical Education. Power and gender inequalities between groups produce effects on their emotions, therefore it is suggested that teachers work to reduce this imbalance, either through the choice of content or specific pedagogical strategies.