Pedagogies of masculinities in bodily practices: Possible dialogues between discursive and decolonial studies

Abstract

This article proposes a theoretical rapprochement between Foucauldian discursive studies and decolonial approaches, with the aim of analysing discursive and pedagogical devices that operate in the production of masculinities within bodily practices linked to the physical education field. Drawing on a critical attitude informed by the archaeogenealogical method and decolonial thought, the study investigates and offers reflections on the constitution of modes of ‘being a man’, by intersecting discursive practices that produce gendered body-subjects. By focusing on the strategic function of these devices, the article identifies points of convergence in the inflection between the two epistemological frameworks, contributing to critical readings of modes of existence and embodiment in contemporary contexts. Within this horizon, the importance of queer, insurgent, and decolonial pedagogical practices is reaffirmed – practices that are open to difference and to plural possibilities of the bodies.