Saberes e fazeres no espaço urbano de Barra do Garças e Pontal do Araguaia a partir da benzeção

Abstract

The present study is part of the research line "Social Movements, Politics, and Popular Education," developed within the Group for Studies and Research in Work and Education (GEPTE) at the Graduate Program in Education of the Federal University of Mato Grosso (PPGE/UFMT). In this regard, the thesis is based on the principles of non-formal education, which occur in other spaces, addressing the relationship between the knowledge of folk medicine. Its general objective is to analyze folk medicine as a process of resistance, healing, and care, which is closely related to physical and mental health. The specific objectives include investigating the practices of folk medicine occurring in the urban space of Barra do Garças and Pontal do Araguaia through healers; identifying the elements that comprise this popular knowledge; presenting faith as a means of healing in folk medicine, seeking to expose elements that may complement official medicine and discussing how the practice of blessing can support the knowledge of official medicine to promote better health outcomes. The justification is based on the social relevance of this popular knowledge and the need to understand how it can complement official medicine. The methodology of this study involves the use of historical materialism as a theoretical framework. It is a participatory research (Brandão, 2007), based on observation, interviews, photographs, and the accompaniment of blessing sessions, and is grounded in the theoretical framework related to dialectical historical materialism (Kosik, 1976; Saviani, 2007; Marx, 1984), chosen as the method for this study. The empirical data, collected through conversations and reflections with community members who practice or believe in blessings as a form of healing and care—namely, men and women living in the cities of Pontal do Araguaia/MT and Barra do Garças/MT—reflect their perspectives and their ways of teaching, learning, and mediating healing through dialogue with nature, religion, and culture, involving both human and non-human entities. Ultimately, faith-based healing occurs in such a way that both the relationship of the blessed individuals and the healers constitutes instruments that can contribute to health and treatments performed in official medicine. It is noteworthy that these practices of folk medicine, whether through prayers, plants, or guidance, seek to align body and spirit, necessitating care that transcends official medicine and serves to complement it.