THE STUDIES OF PHYSICAL CULTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BATH, UNITED KINGDOM: DIMENSIONS OF AN APPROACH THAT GOES WAY BEYOND PHYSICALITY

Abstract

Over the past two decades the analysis of physical culture has elicited a range of responses grounded on different theoretical orientations. This paper offers some insight into this complex field through an analysis of some of the work produced by the Physical Cultural Studies (PCS) research group at the University of Bath, United Kingdom, in order to understand how physical culture is theorised and how research topics are materialized by that approach. The methodology consisted in analyzing the group’s theoretical production between 2009 and 2016, which results in data organized as two thematic categories: a) epistemological, ontological, and methodological dimensions of PCS; b) research topics in physical culture. We concluded that the theoretical-conceptual approach towards physical culture is far from being fixed and is based on multiple and complex interconnections of social relations, discourses and subjectivities of (in)active bodies.