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Dossier • Saude soc. 29 (3) • 2020 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-12902020200364   copy

The sound of maracas (tribute to Ailton Krenak): indigenous medical practices and public health15 15 I must say that I like beautiful titles, even though I have rarely done them, due to the academicism of the time. But it is really a tribute. I was invited to participate in Nayara Scalco’s doctoral examination board and Ailton was also in it. He arrived with the maraca and played it to acquiesce to the reigning noise and be able to start his speech. For me, this is more than a mere request for silence to those present: it is a sign that something solemn and sacred is about to happen, a sound that invokes good spirits so that speech can be a “good speech,” one that brings knowledge and wisdom. Thanks to Nayara, Marília Louvison (her supervisor) and, of course, Ailton. Any references to the data I have collected and cited in this text (or in reference to other texts already published by me) originate primarily from my postdoctoral project funded by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) - Process 15.1548/2004- 8 - and, subsequently, from the indigenous health research project coordinated by me, also funded by CNPq (Process 401240/2005-3; Registro Conep 12.545) and which was authorized to enter indigenous lands by the Fundação Nacional do Índio, term of consent authorized by the local chief and collaboration of the Instituto de Pesquisa Etno-Ambiental do Xingu and the then students of the Graduate Program in Social Anthropology at the Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Marina Pereira Novo, Antonio Guerreiro and Reginaldo Silva de Araújo.

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Abstract

Over the past decade, we have seen the gradual setback of public policies for indigenous health care in Brazil, especially with regard to the basic pillars of its formulation, developed from the 1980s onwards: specific and differentiated attention, participation, and social control. This paper, despite mentioning some critical moments in this process, offers an opportunity for some reflections on how policies and practices, essentially biomedical, can be understood in the more general context of indigenous societies in the country.

Keywords:
Indigenous Health; Health Policies; Indigenous Medicines

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