Addressing Afro-Brazilian and African culture in school Physical Education

The relevance of discussing the theme The Approach to African and Afro-Brazilian Culture in School Physical Education Classes in this paper is due to a problematisation about the historical demand of the black population for social inclusion as well as the commitment of school Physical Education to this demand. The backdrop on the one hand is the exclusion of black people in Brazilian society as a result of the slave regime as well as their struggle to reverse this situation of social marginalisation. On the other hand the very historical and epistemological foundations of school Physical Education in the country which initially corroborated the social exclusion of the black population by rejecting the black body promoting European aesthetics and propagating hygienist and eugenic ideals but which later came to defend a critical perspective committed to social inclusion and diversity. The aim is to introduce a brief history of Afro-Brazilian culture and the legal bases on which the inclusion of African and Afro-Brazilian culture in education is now based in order to ensure that it is taught.