Práticas corporais e diversão em Juiz de Fora\ MG: o discurso do jornal O Pharol (1876 - 1915)

Abstract

This study sought to identify, through the newspaper O Pharol, the physical exercises and entertainment that were part of the everyday life of population of Juiz de Fora / MG between 1876 and 1915. This period can be regarded as a moment in the history in the city went through an intense process of modernization. So, we present and discuss in the initial chapter of this work, from a review of the literature, concepts and meanings of modernity, a historic period of fast transformation, of intense consumption of goods, belief in progress and science (GIDDENS, 1991). In this context we observed in Brazilian lands, in cities like Rio de Janeiro, the development of physical exercises and diversion, identified as modern symbols. In the second chapter, we realize the popularization of these practices through O Pharol, principal medium of communication at this age. Research at this newspaper showed us that: the theatre please the population, who crowded the shows and applauded the plays a lot. We emphasize the moralizing and educational character of this practice; many parties were held in the city: carnival, dances, fundraisers, bands, among others. The circus seems to have been a major diversion of Juiz de Fora’s population, who was less rigid with moralizing imperatives which took care of that theater. The gym appears especially from 1909; sports like foot races, cycling, fights, bullfights and soccer were also present in the pages of O Pharol, as well as the cinema, that brings to the city new aesthetic sensations. We believe that O Pharol may have aided in the dissemination of these practices and we understand the silences to the other practices as strategies of social conformation game.