Leisure Studies

Program History

The Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Leisure Studies (Programa de Pós-Graduação Interdisciplinar em Estudos do Lazer – PPGEL) was established following the approval of its Master’s program in Leisure by CAPES in 2006. In its first triennial evaluation (2007–2009), conducted in 2010, the program received a score of 4. Subsequently, in late 2011, CAPES approved its doctoral program, also awarding it a score of 4. The inaugural doctoral cohort, admitted in 2012, comprised ten students. Following a comprehensive restructuring of its academic framework, operational regulations, and the incorporation of postdoctoral research opportunities, the program formally adopted its current designation, "Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos do Lazer - PPGEL".

 

By 2013, PPGEL had consolidated a faculty body consisting of thirteen permanent professors and three affiliated scholars, representing diverse academic disciplines, including Social Sciences, Computer Science, Communication Studies, Physical Education, History, Pedagogy, and Psychology. Since its inception, the program has attracted applicants from various regions of Brazil with academic backgrounds spanning Administration, Architecture, Social Work, Social Sciences, Dance, Home Economics, Physical Education, Physiotherapy, Geography, History, Leisure Studies, Psychology, Theater, Occupational Therapy, and Tourism. The mean selection ratio for the Master’s program has been 2.63 applicants per available position. Similarly, the doctoral program’s inaugural selection process in 2012 registered 29 applicants for 11 available positions, maintaining the same ratio. These figures underscore the previously unmet demand for advanced academic training in this field in Brazil.

 

In the same year, the program achieved a CAPES score of 5, facilitating a progressive expansion through strategic partnerships with national and international higher education institutions, revisions to its regulatory framework, realignment of research lines, increased availability of scholarships, and adjustments in admission quotas for both Master’s and Doctoral programs.

 

From 2016 onward, PPGEL intensified its expansion efforts, formalizing collaborations with academic institutions, refining its internal regulations, restructuring research lines, enhancing scholarship provisions, and maintaining its CAPES score of 5.

 

The program’s foundational mission emphasizes a rigorous academic and professional formation, coupled with a commitment to social awareness, recognizing leisure as a constitutive element of citizenship and a catalyst for inclusive, socially responsible initiatives. To this end, faculty and students engage in advanced interdisciplinary research, critical theoretical inquiry, and the dissemination of scholarly and applied knowledge. Through systematic and critical analysis of leisure as a sociocultural phenomenon within Brazilian and Latin American contexts, the program examines its historical, political, economic, psychological, and cultural determinants.

 

At the regional level, PPGEL has played a pivotal role in consolidating Leisure Studies as an academic discipline in Brazil. Although leisure has been examined within various graduate programs, PPGEL distinguished itself as the first to systematically investigate its specific manifestations in the Brazilian context, thereby attaining national academic recognition.

 

Curricular Structure

The program is structured around a central thematic concentration, Culture and Education, which encompasses three principal research lines:

 

Identity, Sociabilities, and Leisure Practices

 

• Interdisciplinary investigations into leisure within contemporary societies.

• Socio-anthropological, philosophical, and political foundations of leisure.

• Leisure as manifested across diverse social practices and organizational modalities.

• Intersections between leisure, subjectivity, identity formation, and sociability networks, with attention to variables such as gender, social class, age, ethnicity, race, and belief systems.

• Leisure within institutionalized frameworks and emergent traditions arising from distinct social experiences.

• Cultural, artistic, and media representations of leisure.

 

Memory and History of Leisure

 

• Interdisciplinary historical and mnemonic studies of leisure across temporal and spatial contexts.

• Examination of leisure practices—both institutionalized and informal—as social phenomena embedded within broader economic, political, and cultural matrices.

• Leisure’s relationship to modernity, urbanization, industrialization, and capitalist development.

• Historical institutionalization of leisure practices and the academic field of Leisure Studies.

 

Professional Training, Practice, and Leisure Policies

 

• Interdisciplinary analysis of leisure as a domain of professional formation across multiple disciplines.

• Training methodologies for leisure professionals in varied social and temporal contexts.

• Knowledge production on leisure in Brazil and comparative international perspectives.

• Leisure within labor markets, service provision, and professional intervention.

• Public policy frameworks for leisure, including state-led initiatives in policy design, implementation, and evaluation.

 

The program’s curricular architecture integrates Master’s, Doctoral, and Postdoctoral studies, with a unifying focus on leisure’s intersections with culture and education. Course offerings are designed to align with PPGEL’s academic objectives, ensuring coherence across research lines and between graduate degree levels.

 

Program Objectives

• To foster interdisciplinary research and critical scholarship on leisure within Brazilian and Latin American contexts.

• To cultivate advanced researchers capable of contributing to theoretical and applied knowledge in Leisure Studies.

• To promote academic excellence through research groups, scholarly events, and peer-reviewed publications.

• To prepare highly qualified faculty for higher education and professionals for leadership roles in leisure-related fields.

• To facilitate national and international academic collaboration.

 

Expected Graduate Profile

Graduates of PPGEL are expected to demonstrate:

 

• Proficiency in conducting interdisciplinary research on leisure, with a capacity for scholarly innovation and international engagement.

• Competence in developing pedagogical strategies for higher education in Leisure Studies.

• Ability to design and implement projects that integrate cultural and educational dimensions of leisure.

• Expertise in advising public, private, and third-sector institutions on leisure as a vehicle for social inclusion and civic development.

 

Articulation Between Graduate and Undergraduate Education

The PPGIEL has as a principle to encourage the involvement of faculty and students (master's, doctoral, and post-doctoral researchers) in teaching and research activities at the undergraduate level. This has contributed, on one hand, to qualifying the training of PPGIEL students, preparing them to work as higher education instructors. On the other hand, these activities have also enhanced the education of undergraduate students in Physical Education, Tourism, Pedagogy, Psychology, Occupational Therapy, History, and other courses at UFMG, who become involved in research activities linked to PPGIEL's research lines, expanding their future possibilities for entering graduate programs. In fact, we have observed that many UFMG alumni have participated in PPGIEL's selection processes and achieved good performance in the different stages of selection, demonstrating the importance of articulation between these two levels. Strengthening this trend, since 2013, faculty responsible for some of PPGIEL's elective courses have offered places in these courses to undergraduate students, as elective disciplines.

The integration with UFMG's undergraduate courses can also be verified through the involvement of Graduate students in Teaching Practicum activities. In 2017, 20 students - 12 master's and 8 doctoral students - completed the Practicum.

Participation in research groups that include both undergraduate and graduate students is another action that has proven very important for this integration. Furthermore, the development of collaborative research involving doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students also reinforces the connection between these two educational levels. Similarly, the participation of master's and doctoral students in evaluating or even co-supervising undergraduate final projects is another aspect in the same direction. The same applies to the development of extension projects involving students from both levels, such “Colônia de Férias no Campus”;  “Programa óbvio ululante na rádio UFMG educativa “Projeto Yoga: educação, corpo, consciência e liberdade “Tênis de campo e Beach Tênis no Centro Esportivo Universitário”, among others.

Last but not least, the involvement of PPGEL faculty in advising undergraduate students, both in scientific initiation projects and in the Tutorial Education Program (PET), is another important channel of articulation between undergraduate and graduate education. In 2016, PPGIEL faculty advised 9 undergraduate students.

 

International Collaboration and Academic Exchange

PPGEL sustains active international partnerships, exemplified by:

Participation in the research project Democratización de la educación superior, coordinated by the Universidad de la República (Uruguay).

Collaborative studies on youth leisure spaces and temporalities with the University of the Western Cape (South Africa).

Comparative research on leisure and recreation in Latin America with the University of Antioquia (Colombia).

A forthcoming institutional agreement with the University of Deusto (Spain), home to the Institute of Leisure Studies, a globally recognized research center designated as a Center of Excellence by the World Leisure Organization.