Physical Education in Bulgarian Schools, 1918–1944: the (re)production of masculinity and the re-creation of the national body

Abstract

This article traces the emergence of a new culture of the body through the physical education curriculum in schools in Bulgaria during the years following World War I. The analysis focuses on the rhetorical and institutional links between a cult of the body and the right-wing discourse on national regeneration which was dominated by a particular concept, image and norm of masculinity. The underlying theory and practice of physical training in state schools were reflections of the concern to strengthen the ‘national body’. The public perception of national strength incorporated masculine attributes which, in turn, influenced the construction of male and female gender roles that the physical education programme was designed to re-inforce. This article explores the masculinisation of Bulgarian national identity in terms of how it was ideologically constructed and reflected in the legislation, government acts and the school curriculum during the period from 1918 to 1944.