‘Society Has Taught Us to Judge’: Cultures of the Body in Teacher Education
Source: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 40, Issue 2, 2012, pages 111-126
The body is a powerful symbolic form and all bodily activities are expressions of culture.
The look, size, shape and physicality of bodies are perceived by all and compared to particular cultural standards.
Various discourses of the body, including those around appearance, health and fitness, circulate within societal institutions and through relations of power these impact on the way in which we come to understand bodies.
This research investigates the impact of various cultures of the body, on pre-service physical education teachers' understandings and meaning making about bodies, fitness, health and personal engagement in bodywork.
Implications for future practices in teaching, relationships with school students and messages for teacher educators are also considered.