Healing practices, traditional experience and school knowledge: study on a rural community in Minas Gerais (1940-1970)

Abstract

This article analyzes main healing practices of a rural community in Ibirité, Minas Gerais, between 1940 and 1970, as well as how they are passed on and taught. There is also the discussion about the tensions between these practices and the prescriptions carried out by a teacher training program located in the municipality. The main sources used in the investigation were oral testimonies, documents produced in the courses, reports and educational legislation. The research identified that the strength of the traditional knowledge was based on community’s belief about them and in the bonds of solidarity on which they were based. Medical practice based on science had to live, negotiate and produce its legitimacy with the population, in a game of forces, sharing and disputing spaces.