Pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum among the Munduruku of Amazonas: clashes and articulations between the hegemonic medical model and indigenous self-attention practices

Abstract

This article is about pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum among the Munduruku Indians of Kwatá-Laranjal Reserve, Amazon, Brazil. Based on ethnographic research in a current medical pluralism context, the research shows some articulations and clashes between indigenous knowledge and hegemonic medical model, observed in: perceptions about health of fetus, woman and families; choices of the places for birth; the intensities of the practices of seclusion in the puerperium; the possibilities of traditionally prescribed diets; demands or impositions for hospital births, cesareans and female sterilizations. We conclude that medical pluralism between Munduruku it is not a simple case of imposing biomedical practices, but a more complex and dynamic situation of resistances, appropriations, adhesions and support to the hegemonic medical model.