The school festivals of Physical Education in Barcelona at the beginning of the 20th century: myths and invented traditions of modern education and regeneration

Abstract

The analysis of three images of the school physical education festivals held in Barcelona at the beginning of the 20th century invites us to investigate the myths and invented traditions of modern education. The dialectical critique to which we subject the images allows us to deconstruct the visual reality, revealing the social contradictions that were hidden behind these festivals. In these festivals, in addition to highlighting the social value of physical education, the will to cement a national consciousness is manifested, assuming the idealised argument that the modernity, regeneration and progress of the country resided in a healthy and robust youth. We conclude that these physical education festivals were part of an aesthetic invention and myth that revealed the moral triumph of a dominant and self-satisfied ruling class.