WANZELER, K. M. B.; WANZELER, Karlyane Mayara Brito.
Resumo:
This study aims to reflect on the history of struggle, resistance and traditional knowledge of
women (from the Agroindustry and Extractive Cooperative of Women of the Municipality
of Cametá (COOPMUC), in the Lower Tocantins, based on the activities developed by some
of these women, aiming to understand, from memory in line with oral reports, the forms of
transmission of traditional knowledge, knowledge and practices, which demonstrate to have
resisted the constant attempts of "payment". Similarly, it is proposed to know the
understanding attributed by these women to health, as well as the educational processes
triggered by them, seeking to identify the knowledge and practices who develop about the
use of medicinal plants focused on the autonomy of health care, verifying how the process
of interaction between scientific knowledge and popular knowledge takes place.
Methodologically, the constitution of the research is based on oral narratives, which reflect
a set of several voices, seeking to verify how traditional healing practices intervene in local
health and act in the care of the body; how they are understood and interpreted within the
community, as well as demonstrate other specificities that reflect gender and power relations
within society. Therefore, it was necessary to resort to bibliographic survey and studies of
works related to the issues related to the theme of health, being mainly the Amazonian
context, permeated by the influence of indigenous peoples, blacks and their descendants,
who live there. Hence the need for the help of a theoretical framework that help to dialogue
about traditional practices, experiences and knowledge in dealing with herbs and medicinal
plants in the production of medicines, in the treatment of the health of people in this region,
who live far from urban centers. In the same sense, we used studies of authors that address
the themes gender, feminism, traditional knowledge, memory, culture, among which stand
out: Nobre (2003), Safiotti (2013), Hall (2006), Balman (2012), Barth (2000), Langdon
(2010), Chalhoub (2003), Santos (2018), Polak (1992), Pinto (2004), Freire (1987), among
others. Thus, the present work is a qualitative investigation, anchored in the oral history
approach, which had the use of semi-structured interviews, in addition to the observation of
the daily experience of some of the women interviewed. Preliminary data from the research
make it clear that existing interpersonal relationships, which outline traits that support social
structures, and reveal bonds of solidarity, patriarchy, feminism, gender issues and resistance
through the culture provided by traditional healing practices.