THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STUDIES OF THE IMAGINARY TO THE CONCEPT OF BIOGRAPHICAL BODY

Abstract

The contributions of the studies of the Imaginary to the problematization and the deepening of the concept of Biographical Body in an educational context comprised the theme of this paper. It was based on a 4-year doctoral research[1] which was carried out in the Post-graduate Program in Education, more specifically in the Study and Research Group on the Imaginary, Education and Memory (GEPIEM), at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, located in Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Its theoretical field was based on the studies of the Imaginary carried out by Gilbert Durand and Gaston Bachelard, as well as on studies of the Biographical Body conducted by Danis Bois and Marie-Christine Josso. The empirical data was collected in six meetings with four College students who exercised body biographyzation through “indirect knowledge” (DURAND, 1988) with improvisational theater. The analysis process resulted in symbolic cores which ended up yielding “mythemes” (DURAND, 1996). This paper has described one of the mythemes, i. e., A Being made of flesh that thinks and one that acts in the fractioned body. All mythemes together showed the contribution of the studies of the Imaginary to the concept of Biographical Body, since there was evidence of the fact that the body is a live writing of experiences which are meaningful in a human being’s life, just like reservoirs of a personal and anthropological journey.

[1] Research funding agency: CAPES