Autoridade na educação judoística: notas etnográficas na Associação de Judô de Bastos-SP

Abstract

Richard Sennett argues that the human lack of authority emerges from the desire for se- curity, guidance and stability. However, in the modern world in particular, fear and rejec- tion of the existence of authority arises. On the other hand, in the context of the educa- tional practices of Judo, we observe the opposite phenomenon: the fear of the absense or the destruction of authority, expressed in the recurrent legitimation of the authority of the sensei (teacher) by the young apprentices, engaged in the spaces intended for teaching and learning this fighting modality of Japanese origin. Faced with this phenomenon, the objective is to understand the process of interpreting the sensei authority at the Judo As- sociation of Bastos, more precisely, at the Judo Association of Bastos-SP, located in the city of Bastos, State of São Paulo/Brazil. To this end, ethnographic fieldwork was carried out, theoretically guided by the Interpretative Anthropology proposed by Clifford Geertz, as well as by the perspectives on the authority of Hannah Arendt and Richard Sennett. In conclusion, I point out that the interpretation of sensei as a figure of authority by the learners, comes from the effectiveness of Judoistic pedagogy in teaching and learning the positive value of difference in hierarchical social constructs, especially with regard to the educational practices of judo. Furthermore, I hypothesize that the basic principles of mod- ern and Western individualism, namely, the values of equality and freedom in the liberal perspective, erode the possibility of educational contexts of recognition of authority.