“Ajudei a difundir muito a ginástica. E depois, por si, ela criou asas e voou livre”: o professor Ítalo Paschoal Luiz e as práticas corporais em Juiz de Fora

Abstract

This research analyzes the trajectory of Professor Italo Paschoal Luiz (1927- 2016), through a historical-biographical study, in the interlocution with the studies of Bourdieu (2006), Macedo and Goellner (2013), Tavaler and Costa (2010), and Schmidt (2012). This work aimed to give new significance and expand the look on the senses and meanings of body practices in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, with emphasis on gymnastics, in the light of Italo Paschoal Luiz contributions. Three interviews with Italo were used as sources, before his death; the book Chronicles - The Life and History of the Physical Trainer: Italo Paschoal Luiz, written by himself, in the 1990s; archives from Italo’s family collection, containing photos, documents, and newspaper clippings related to the theme. Italo saw himself as an important person in the construction, dissemination, and perpetuation of gymnastics and body practices. Thus, he used various artifices to legitimize his work at the municipal level, to guarantee his prestige and recognition in the city, and to consolidate himself as a reference in Physical Education, both for his contemporaries and for later years. The analysis of Italo’s trajectory shed light on a fraction of the history of movements in favor of body practices and on important places that enabled the development of body practices in Juiz de Fora. The research demonstrated Italo’s role in several ways, making his pioneering spirit in the city remarkable with body practices, especially when associated with gymnastics.