Body Education in and through the Language of the Law: Potentialities of Legislation as a Source

Abstract

This research work investigates body education in urban spaces of sociability in the cit of Belo Horizonte, from 1897 to 1905. Legislation appears as an important source, as it allows for the analysis of projects envisaged by the State, establishing rules for the use of the urban space. It presents texts that encode desirable values and regulate social behavior. Legislative acts clarify the intentions of the State in terms of regulating the relationship society should have with the space it occupies, and they show that growing urbanization can categorize spaces and determine social practices which are authorized or hidden, thus creating a new sensitivity to the body.

Keywords: Body education – city – legislation.