Educazione e corporeità: un percorso storico

Education is a human phenomenon that can only be understood within the spatio-temporal framework in which it has always taken place. As anthropological studies suggest, every human society has, over time, developed a culture – that is, a system of values, behaviours and norms – which is preserved and passed down through education. By introducing new generations to their own culture – which they then developed, utilised and transformed – their connection to the past was ensured. This chapter is, therefore, devoted to a brief historical overview of physical care as it relates to physical education. From the earliest oral civilisations, through the classical, medieval and modern worlds, the body has always been the focus of attention as an expression of diverse perspectives, whether religious or secular. However, it was during the nineteenth century and, above all, in the twentieth century that physical education came to be valued as an academic discipline, becoming a means of disseminating values or ideologies, before finally establishing itself, in our own time, as a subject of primary importance in the holistic development of the individual.