Women and traditional knowledge in health care: understanding traditional healing practices in Brazil

Several international agreements acknowledge public participation, equity, and democracy as necessary conditions to achieve Health Promotion. For this purpose, if we accept the validity of distinct systems of knowledge, we realize the relevance of an approach to healthcare based on a pluralist epistemology, which sustains the legitimacy of traditional knowledge in its own processes of production, transmission, and application. In this study, we aim to investigate the notions and understandings of traditional healing practices in a city near Curitiba, in Southern Brazil. A qualitative sociological approach was adopted, incorporating semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and Discourse Analysis of female practitioners. In addition, we want to understand the social function of these practices in contrast with biomedicine-based operations of Health Care Networks in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). We observed that the role of women is central in these practices, who are responsible for their application and transmission. And the knowledge developed through these healing practices engenders a particular view about family and society. Therefore, these women are empowered by increasing their symbolic capital through their knowledge of health care.