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The Biometric Cabinet of the Escola de Educação Física do Exército: measuring and classifying to produce ideal bodies, 1930-1940

This paper analyzes biometrical and biotypological practices of the Biometric Cabinet of the Escola de Educação Física do Exército (Physical Education School of the Army) in Rio de Janeiro in the 1930s and 1940s, published in Revista de Educação Física do Exército. It was necessary to classify, monitor the results of the exercises periodically and measure morphological aspects of the bodies. The classifications were made in accordance with foreign parameters and an attempt was made to classify by type, quality and defects. The analysis of the practices of the Cabinet shows that biometrics and biotypology were complementary aspects of physical education, aiming at the standardization of bodies.

Brazil in the 1930s and 1940s; Revista de Educação Física do Exército; biometrics; biotypology


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