Bodies and Cultures in Distance Education: a case study on training and experience in two Public High Education Institutions in Bahia / Brazil
Bodies; cultures; Distance Education; training; experience; intertwinement; High Education; pandemic; COVID-19.
The research aimed to analyze the concepts of body, culture, experience and training, and how these intertwines are the foundation for Distance Education in two Public Higher Education Institutions: one state and another federal. The justification of the study stems from the gap found in the absence of research on body and culture in Distance Education in Brazil. It is characterized as a multiple case study, with a qualitative approach, inspired by Minayo (2013). Individual and group interviews, which took place in the year 2020, in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, were the main procedure for the construction of the study, being accompanied by documentary analysis. The investigated subjects - students, professor, tutors and coordinators - produced meanings which were analyzed from the reference of Verón (1980). The theoretical basis of the research was grounded on the concept of body, culture, training and experience, focusing on Distance Education. For this purpose, were selected the studies of Merleau-Ponty (1999), Le Breton (2007), Silva (2020), Geertz (2008), Silva (2000), Freire (2004), Moura (2017), Larrosa (2011), Santos (2019), Almeida (2003), Peters (2003), Polak (2006), Mill (2010), mainly. When bringing training and experience to the focus of the case study, it appears that the gap verified in the absence of the debate on body and culture goes beyond the limits of Distance Education. It is a limit on education as a whole. As conclusion, it is indicated the urgency to treat the concepts of body, culture and experience in an interwoven way in the training, an Education with bodies, cultures and emotions, in other words, the announcement of a foundation which requires intentionality in the propositions of an Distance Education with body and culture as centrality.