Práticas Corporais, Atividades físicas e neoliberalismo: uma análise das ações do Ministério da Saúde no período de 2019-2021

Abstract

Thesis presented to the Postgraduate Program in Physical Education at the Pelotas, linked to the Human Movement, Education and Society concentration area in the Sociocultural Studies of Sport and Health research line, Federal University of Pelotas. The objective of the present study was to analyze the actions of the Ministry of Health (MS) with Body Practices and Physical Activities in the period from 2019 to 2021. A documentary study was carried out, where the empirical research corpus consisted of primary sources, coming from the Ministry of Health website and adjacent, derived from the Department of Health Promotion (DEPROS). Based on the selection, eight materials were included in the analysis: (1) ministerial decree; (2) research notices; (1) Guide aimed at the general population; (2) documents attached to the Guide and aimed at professionals and/or managers and the draft of (1) physical activity program. The thesis analyzes resulted in the following products: 1) Erasure of the term “Body Practices” in actions by the Ministry of Health: an analysis of the period 2019-2021. In this article, we highlight of all the materials analyzed, the Physical Activity Guidelines for the Brazilian population, makes a brief mention of bodily practices, without considering it in the document objectives or development. In parallel, the actions are strongly pervaded by a notion of physical activity associated with the behavioral spectrum and with a focus on disease prevention. The erasing of bodily practices in the actions represents a disruption in the historical advances in Health Promotion field, especially the amplification of the human movement sociocultural dimension. And 2) Discourses present in the Physical Activity Guide for the Brazilian population: tensions from an intersectional perspective. In the aforementioned article, we used discourse analysis and power-knowledge relations inspired by Foulcautian Studies. The analyzes based on these references made it possible to emerge two statements: Intensification of neoliberal rationality and the hegemony of epidemiological/biomedical parameters and Absence of intersectional tensions such as race, class and gender. We situate this analysis with several recommendations in the context of physical activities that ignore the social reality in which the Brazilian population is immersed. Actions aimed at promoting health or physical activity, as is the case with the Guide, must pursue strategies that dialogue and enable a breadth of offers, starting with the recognition of physical activity as a right. Not paying attention to the combinations of race, gender and class means allowing oppression to perpetuate itself and renew places of domination, especially those reserved for poor black women.