1

1º Semestre

Soc., Est. Cult. e Ges. das Act. Físicas e do Des.

2.0

Maria Manuela Vasconcelos Hasse de Almeida e Silva

At the end of the course, students should:
- be acquainted with the different expressions of human behaviour based on the body and from its social and historical manifestations.
- be able to analyse the social conditions of contextualization of those expressions of human behaviour, frameworking permanencies and changes.
- understand the human and social problems inherent to the human body as a social phenomenon (birth, education, relationships, reproduction, marriage, ageing, maturity, disease and death).
- identify the social dimension of human behaviour, where the body is the core of action and thinking configurations.
- transfer/project that element of understanding into time and space.
- apply and develop critical thinking aiming to be able to recognise and define problems, to formulate adequate hypothesis, to make pertinent options, to draw valid conclusions and to apply them.

This course studies the human being beginning in the body, as a social phenomenon, and, thus, as a structure of representations, revealing an inbuilt collection of behaviours. Everyday practices interlaced with the preservation of life are particularly analysed. The course takes into account ideas, images, symbols, representations, norms and conduct, and how these develop/are abandoned.
The course is organized as follows:
Block 1 – Introduction to the study of Anthropology and History of the Body;
Block 2 – Marcel Mauss’ contribution: mainly with his work about the Techniques of the Body;
Block 3 – Education of the body;
Block 4 – Development of the body representations associated with medical conceptions of the body, nature, health and life.

In each class a reading and discussion of classic texts is organized, from which students expose doubts and questions introduced by the text and the authors related with the Program and the need to associate concepts, attitudes and practices suggested by the texts with present reality experienced and known by the students.
Final Frequency Test and Final Exam.

CRESPO, Jorge – A História do Corpo. Lisboa. 1992.
HASSE, Manuela – O Divertimento do Corpo. Corpo, Lazer e Desporto, na transição do Século XIX para o Século XX, em Portugal. Lisboa. 1999.
MAUSS, Marcel – Sociologie et Anthropologie. Paris. 1989.