THE SPORTS MOBILIZATION PROMOTED BY THE SÃO PAULO STATE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE 1932 CIVIL WAR

Abstract

The São Paulo State Department of Physical Education (DEF-SP) suspended its regular activities during the 1932 civil war and started to recruit athletes for the armed struggle. This study describes the participation of the DEF-SP in the war, analyzes the narratives published by São Paulo’s press about athletes’ enlistment and participation, and identifies strategies employed to establish a memory about the event. We found that the DEF-SP centralized the actions of sports clubs and federations to provide support to the armed struggle and form three paramilitary units. The state’s press attributed physical and moral values ​​to sport to foster regionalist feelings among the population and affirm a regional (paulista) identity. Two years after the armistice, the First Sports Battalion Civic Association was founded to create a triumphalist memory about the athletes’ armed uprising.

Keywords:
War; Sports; Memory; Social identity