Abstract

JORAND, Benoit. Formas de transformación del conocimiento de la medicina tradicional en los pueblos nahuas del municipio de Hueyapan, Sierra Norte de Puebla. Cuicuilco [online]. 2008, vol.15, n.44, pp.181-196. ISSN 0185-1659.

In this work a summary of the study of the processes of transformation that occur within the knowledge of traditional medicine possessed by the nahua communities of the municipality of Hueyapan, in the Northern Sierra of Puebla, is presented. This knowledge is based mainly on the use and conservation of traditional herbolary, as well as in the ancestral concepts of illness and medicine. The study is synchronic and aims to understand the current state of local knowledge, through the evaluation of the impacts of the official health system on the conceptualization of the relationship between health-illness and medical practice held by indigenous groups. It was possible to verify that traditional medicine is still important in the region. However, there is a tendency for the specialized knowledge of the curanderas and other traditional specialists to disappear. The transformation of traditional knowledge takes place at the level of domestic groups, in particular through women who have a key role in the processes of reproduction, transmission and redefinition of the knowledge of traditional medicine. They also play an essential role in the conservation and revival of medicinal plants through the cultivation of them in home gardens.

Keywords : traditional medicine; herbolary; home-garden; indigenous world view; syncretism.

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