Abstract

Objective:   From a socio-historical approach with emphasis on the social history of knowledge and experts, the following scientific work analyzes the XIV Pan American Congress of Physical Education held in Costa Rica in 1993. The paper analyzes the event as a space for sociability, knowledge circulation, legitimation of certain experts, influence, and power of some international organizations. Based on this analysis, the article aims to examine the knowledge, experts, and organizations that validated certain true meanings on how to conceptualize the vast universe of physical culture, physical education, and sports.

Material and methods:   To conduct the hermeneutical analysis within the framework of a qualitative methodology. Interpretive attention has been focused on various documentary sources, such as memoirs and reports of the congress, the written press, the central exhibitions, the general lectures, and the memories related to other Pan American congresses. Likewise, a set of semi-structured interviews have been carried out. The analysis has articulated the ''text'' with the historical conditions of production and interaction of the investigated universe.

Results and conclusion:   Among the conclusions, the congress is identified as a space in which the educational discipline was questioned through various types of knowledge, highlighting the biomedical, pedagogical, didactic, and sociological ones. In addition, the congress made visible certain international experts and important transnational institutions linked to the heterogeneous field of physical culture.

Keywords: physical education; knowledge; experts; Costa Rica