The purpose of this paper is to make a comparison between the therapeutic fields that form part of the daily experience of two Panoan groups: Yaminawa people (Ucayali, Peruvian Amazon) and Yawanawa people (Acre, Brazilian Amazon). This comparison raises some interesting questions, as both groups, in spite of their cultural and linguistic relatedness, are inserted in different national, social and political contexts. The existing differences observed are not limited to questions stemming from two different state health policies; rather, they are directly associated with the particularities of their respective social and regional contexts. A comparison of these situations demonstrates that the relationship that the State establishes with indigenous societies, as well as the identity aspects deriving from it, are important factors in the constitution of indigenous therapeutic habitus. The present analysis examines how these issues are exemplified in newborns' feeding practices and in the use of biomedical resources in childbirth and birth control in both groups.
Amazonian Ethnology; Indigenous Health; Identity; Women's Health