Based on the assumption that contemporary society’s complexity challenges subjects in many ways, we investigated the construction of university professors’ identity. To this end, we chose the oral history method to investigate the constitution of the identity of the professor in charge of didactic and pedagogical subjects in PE courses in the city of Sorocaba, SP, Brazil. Analyses based on Cultural Studies assumptions and divided into epistemological and substantive aspects indicate strong presence of uncritical and solitary teacher identities, as a result of life histories and subjectivities constituted by power relations and socio-historical processes that commodify education and lead to alienating practices in higher education institutions. The strategies to overcome that situation include continued expansion of the academic debate using contemporary theoretical tools that give visibility to knowledge produced in the school context. © 2016, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. All rights reserved.223783794