Religiosity and Indigenous Cosmology in a Brazilian Hospital Setting: The Challenges Faced by Health Professionals

Abstract

This article focuses on the description, discussion, and problematization of the ways indigenous spirituality is presented in a Brazil’s hospital, in the context of the treatment of chronic illnesses in children under medical supervision. It describes a short extract from a more wide-ranging study, focusing on the analysis of excerpts of the verbal responses of health professionals, and of two specific cases. Adopting a phenomenological approach, the vicissitudes of the hospitalization of indigenous children are described from the perspectives of the professionals, with an emphasis on the outcomes of the reported cases, which are riddled with impasses and challenges, with important implications for the country’s health policy and for the training of health professionals. Grounded on the cosmological explications for the illness, the indigenous child’s family members tend to resort to pajelança, (indigenous traditional healing rituals), even within the hospital environment, with or without the consent of the medical team. This process does not always end harmoniously or in an integrated fashion, evidencing the rifts in the interaction between indigenous curing practices, underpinned by thousands of years of tradition, and medical practices grounded on formal, rational, and scientific understanding. We conclude by indicating perspectives for professional training and the respective ethical considerations.