Xamanismo Kalapalo and medical care in the upper xingu : ethnographic study of healing practices / Xamanismo Kalapalo e assistencia medica no alto xingu : estudo etnografico das praticas curativas

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2010

RESUMO

This dissertation is the result of an interpolated twelve-month fieldwork among the Kalapalo of Upper Xingu (Xingu Indigenous Land, Mato Grosso, Brazil). It seeks to undertake a description and analysis about the way in which an interaction takes place between the Kalapalo shamanism and biomedical knowledge the way it happens within the practices of the national health care policies to the Indian people of Upper Xingu. Kalapalo shamanism is not different from Upper Xingu shamanism as a whole. Upper Xinguano shamanism is basically a therapeutic system that addresses the phenomenon of illness as an event in which a person has his/her soul-shadow (akua) captured by a spirit (itseke). The itseke concept is related to the animal forms as defined within the Kalapalo cosmology, and their ways of existence are better understood when it is associated with the concept of point of view, along with the predatory logic and the Upper Xinguano diet. The shaman is called in order to, through the trance led by tobacco smoke, communicate with the itseke that is the illness cause, so that he might bring the soul-shadow back into the ill. The possibility of cure is so understood in terms of the soul-shadow rescue, performed by the shaman. The relations created from the contact situation between the Upper Xinguano and the surrounding society engendered the development of two-key categories, named Indian Illnesses and White Illnesses. The first category indicates illnesses caused by itsekeko and the second appears as infectious illnesses such as influenza, measles, mumps, chicken pox, etc. The issue that outlines our work is based on the ambiguous character that is taken upon the opposition between Indian Illnesses and White Illnesses. From the Kalapalo perspective this dichotomy does not determine a separation of nature between the two categories, but it defines an instrumental mode of communication with the health care teams. On the other hand, the medical teams conceive a division between Indian Illnesses and White Illnesses and consider the first one as a particular manifestation of indigenous culture. This uniqueness is perceived from the idea of a psychosomatization of cultural aspects, it is understood that culture is a set of beliefs. Thus, the dichotomy between the Indian Illnesses and White Illnesses, from the way it is conceived by the health care teams, impute a psichological cause for the first and physiological cause for the second. This reduction of Indian Illnesses regarding Indian beliefs is explored as a hierarchical structure configuration, in which, the Indigenous cosmology is embodied by the Western cosmology. Such embodiment finds its basis in cultural relativism, which pressuposes the coexistence of a cultural diversity along with the existence of a universal nature. Data from our ethnographic research suggests a different arrangement when the focus of analysis shows the way by which the Kalapalo indians search for the Western medical treatment. The shamanistic therapy is not ruled out by the indians, even when what the health care understands as White Illnesses is what is at stake. This suggests that there is a common origin of Indian Illnesses and White Illnesses: itsekeko ( spirits ) or kugihé-ótomo (sorcerers)

ASSUNTO(S)

saude - aspectos antropologicos indians of south america saude publica - brasil - indigenas shamanism Índios kalapalo kalapo indians health xamanismo indios da america do sul - brasil ethnology public health etnologia

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