Academic horizons of Physical Education in Latin America

Abstract

Physical Education is an academic, pedagogical and epistemological discipline inherited from modernity, which was constituted based on foundations, contradictions and paradoxes that have earned it criticism at present from perspectives that renew senses and conceptual meanings. In this context, the purpose of this theoretical study is to critically reflect on the horizons of this discipline in Latin America. The epistemological contributions of the traditional and renovating currents of Physical Education are presented, recognizing that both are important for the current and future challenges of the discipline in Latin America. The advances of Latin American countries in science and postgraduate studies in Physical Education and related areas are also reviewed, with Brazil being recognized for its great progress in these dimensions.