Educação do corpo e civilidade no território federal de Ponta Porã (1944-1946)

Abstract

The challenge of this doctoral thesis is to understand how the education of the body took place in the Federal Territory of Ponta Porã (FTPP), in dialogue with the procedural theory of Norbert Elias based on conduct and codes of behavior relating to the body, constructed, and established in different configurations and spaces, to enable a civilizing process for the region. This Doctorate in Education research is anchored in the History, Memory, and Society research line of the Postgraduate program (PPGEDU) at Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados (UFGD/FAED). The main objective of the research is to problematize and analyze how the FTPP established an education of the body, in the period from 1944 to 1946. As specific objectives: identify and analyze the historical, border, political, geographic, educational, and social process and context; identify the education of the body as an object of research and historiographical category; analyze the education of the body through the procedural theory of Norbert Elias undertaken between 1944 and 1946, according to the Relatório Federal de Ponta Porã (RFPP) (1944-1946). The main source of the research is this Report that is still little studied and “was prepared by the governor after the extinction of the Territory on September 18th, 1946. Some microfilms and the newspaper Gazeta Oficial from the 1940s published in Ponta Porã, from the Federal Territory Collection of UFGD’s Regional Documentation Center were also used as sources. This is a piece of research, which has body education as a historiographic category with the locus on the Brazil-Paraguay border. The study covered the period of the FTPP (1944 to 1946) and several actions by the Vargas government were intensified. The territory project would justify itself to the local population because the regions selected for the creation of the territories, considered backward, empty backlands, as they were borders, needed nationality and government protection. Thus, the Marcha para Oeste program fit into these regions, leading to the execution of the projects. Even though there was a risk of canceling the works due to lack of financial resources, it can be said that the creation of the FTPP provided considerable progress to the region. The theoretical framework adopted is based on Norbert Elia’s procedural theory (1897-1990), his works are based on power relations, behaviors and configurations, control and self-control of individuals' emotions. The concepts of interdependence, civility, control, and self-control were used. To analyze the RFPP and civilizing bodily practices, I looked for evidence in schools, health care system, sports clubs, churches, civic parades, and city guard bands. This way, we can see an educational and training process directed at the individuals’ bodies in that region, through new experiences that were internalized and that naturalized certain behaviors, shaping the consciousness and personality of each individual. Such behaviors were in line with the Vargas government's proposal to form a nation of strong and healthy individuals, in addition to instilling a nationalist and patriotic feeling.