Gymnastics as a discipline of primary school in the years of Italian unification. A proposal for a historiographical «re-contextualization»

Abstract

The contribution aims to suggest some research paths to begin a study on Gymnastics in the primary school during the years of Italian unification, starting from the analysis of the well-known literature which have dealt with physical activities in that period. Many of these publications – often arising from a non-academic intention and, in any case, characterized by a thematic and methodological eclecticism – are influenced by a historiographical tradition that has studied physical education without a specific attention on the elementary school. Therefore, the essay proposes a «re-contextualization» of the research that focuses on school Gymnastics and examines this topic according to a consistent heuristic view. Even on the basis of studies that have already taken a similar approach, it points out the new sources to be used and outlines new interpretative perspectives that, complying with the most recent instances of educational historiography, can reconstruct the first steps of Gymnastics as a discipline in the curriculum of Italian primary school.

Keywords

• storia della scuola
• ginnastica come disciplina scolastica
• stato della ricerca
• nuove prospettive storiografiche
• Italia
• XIX secolo