Democracy, Affective Atmospheres, and Physical Education

Abstract

Democratic education in Physical Education classes has traditionally focused on conveying to students the knowledge of how to be a good citizen and has disregarded its affective dimension. Based on the pedagogy of ignorance and the concept of affective atmospheres, the following text describes and evaluates a teaching activity involving juggling balls as a way of enabling students to experience democratic affects. Analysis of the teacher's field diary and of students' self-assessment questionnaires reveals the existence of four affective figures among the students: the committed, the sceptical, the traditional, and the passive. These should be understood as four poles in a topological space, within which various forms of discourse on the orientations of students' actions when carrying out a democratic experience can be positioned. The text recognises the affective force of democracy and addresses the question of how democratic education can be implemented in Physical Education classes through different forms of content without being addressed explicitly.