Plantas que curan y descolonialidad. prácticas cotidianas comunitarias de las mujeres, en Montes de Maria / Plantas que curam e decolonialidade. práticas cotidianas comunitárias das mulheres, em Montes de Maria / Plants that cure and decoloniality: practices of everyday life communitary of women, in Montes de Maria

RESUMEN. El artículo parte de las reflexiones de la investigación de Doctorado Grupalidad curadora. Descolonialidad de saberes-prácticas campesinas y afroindígenas en Montes de María (Caribe colombiano); interesada, desde una perspectiva descolonial, por aquellos saberes para curar que fueron excluidos por la ciencia moderna y colonial, silenciando el potencial que entraña la comunidad. Nos centramos en las prácticas cotidianas como curar con plantas que utilizan las mujeres campesinas en las comunidades San Francisco, Medellín y Villa Colombia (Ovejas-Sucre). Las herramientas y técnicas fueron el mapeo de saberes y prácticas comunitarias, entrevistas colectivas, observaciones y recorridos comunitarios por las veredas y las huertas; también el diario de campo, como herramienta de apoyo para el registro y la descripción. El método de análisis cualitativo de la información, privilegió el punto de vista de la experiencia de las mujeres. Los aportes descoloniales orientaron nuestras reflexiones y el análisis del material de campo sobre los saberes y prácticas de cura. En el conocimiento silenciado que reside en las prácticas cotidianas de las mujeres campesinas estarían las claves para curar los dolores de la guerra en los territorios colombianos; lo que justifica una reflexión y un aprendizaje para la academia, en particular, para la Psicología Comunitaria.

RESUMO. O artigo parte das reflexões de pesquisa de doutorado Grupalidade Curadora. Descolonialidade dos saberes-práticas camponesas e afroindígenas em Montes de Maria (Caribe colombiano), interessada, a partir de uma perspectiva descolonial, esses saberes para curar que foram excluídos pela ciência moderna e colonial, silenciando o potencial envolvido na comunidade. Focalizamos as práticas cotidianas como curar com plantas usadas pelas mulheres camponesas nas comunidades San Francisco, Medellín e Villa Colombia (Ovejas-Sucre). As ferramentas e técnicas eram mapeamento de saberes e práticas comunitárias, entrevistas coletivas, observações e visitas comunitárias pelos caminhos e hortas; também o diário de campo, como ferramenta de apoio ao registro e descrição. O método de análise qualitativa da informação privilegiou o ponto de vista e a experiência das mulheres. Aportes descoloniais orientaram nossas reflexões e a análise do material de campo sobre os saberes e práticas de cura. No conhecimento silenciado que reside nas práticas cotidianas, haveria as chaves para curar as dores da guerra nos territórios colombianos; o que justifica uma reflexão e um aprendizado para a academia, em especial, para a Psicologia Comunitária.

ABSTRACT. This article originates from the PhD research Groupality curator: Decoloniality of peasant and afro-indigenous knowledge/practices in Montes de Maria (Colombian Caribbean); from a decolonial perspective, it is interested on the knowledge of cure that were excluded by modern/colonial science. Ando as a consequence, it has silenced the potential of the community. The central point of our study are the practices of everyday life related to cure with medicinal plants that are employed by peasant women in the communities of San Francisco, Medellin and Villa Colombia (Ovejas-Sucre). The tools and techniques we used were mapping community knowledge and practices, collective interviews, observations, trips along the countryside roads and vegetable gardens, and, finally, a field diary—as support tool for registration and description. The method of qualitative analysis of information privileges the point of view and experience of woman. The decolonial contributions enabled us to direct our reflections and analyses of the field material toward knowledge and practices of cura. In the silenced knowledge that resides in the practices of everyday life of peasant women would be the keys to heal the pains of war in the Colombian territories; which justifies a reflection and learning for the academy, in particular, for Community Psychology.

Doctors and vampires in sub-Saharan Africa: ethical challenges in clinical trial research.

Collecting blood samples from individuals recruited into clinical research projects in sub-Saharan Africa can be challenging. Strikingly, one of the reasons for participant reticence is the occurrence of local rumors surrounding "blood stealing" or "blood selling." Such fears can potentially have dire effects on the success of research projects--for example, high dropout rates that would invalidate the trial's results--and have ethical implications related to cultural sensitivity and informed consent. Though commonly considered as a manifestation of the local population's ignorance, these rumors represent a social diagnosis and a logical attempt to make sense of sickness and health. Born from historical antecedents, they reflect implicit contemporary structural inequalities and the social distance between communities and public health institutions. We aim at illustrating the underlying logic governing patients' fear and argue that the management of these beliefs should become an intrinsic component of clinical research.

Witchcraft beliefs and witch hunts: an interdisciplinary explanation.

This paper proposes an interdisciplinary explanation of the cross-cultural similarities and evolutionary patterns of witchcraft beliefs. It argues that human social dilemmas have led to the evolution of a fear system that is sensitive to signs of deceit and envy. This was adapted in the evolutionary environment of small foraging bands but became overstimulated by the consequences of the Agricultural Revolution, leading to witch paranoia. State formation, civilization, and economic development abated the fear of witches and replaced it in part with more collectivist forms of social paranoia. However, demographic-economic crises could rekindle fear of witches-resulting, for example, in the witch craze of early modern Europe. The Industrial Revolution broke the Malthusian shackles, but modern economic growth requires agricultural development as a starting point. In sub-Saharan Africa, witch paranoia has resurged because the conditions for agricultural development are lacking, leading to fighting for opportunities and an erosion of intergenerational reciprocity.

The epidemiology of 'bewitchment' as a lay-reported cause of death in rural South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Cases of premature death in Africa may be attributed to witchcraft. In such settings, medical registration of causes of death is rare. To fill this gap, verbal autopsy (VA) methods record signs and symptoms of the deceased before death as well as lay opinion regarding the cause of death; this information is then interpreted to derive a medical cause of death. In the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance Site, South Africa, around 6% of deaths are believed to be due to 'bewitchment' by VA respondents. METHODS: Using 6874 deaths from the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System, the epidemiology of deaths reported as bewitchment was explored, and using medical causes of death derived from VA, the association between perceptions of witchcraft and biomedical causes of death was investigated. RESULTS: The odds of having one's death reported as being due to bewitchment is significantly higher in children and reproductive-aged women (but not in men) than in older adults. Similarly, sudden deaths or those following an acute illness, deaths occurring before 2001 and those where traditional healthcare was sought are more likely to be reported as being due to bewitchment. Compared with all other deaths, deaths due to external causes are significantly less likely to be attributed to bewitchment, while maternal deaths are significantly more likely to be. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding how societies interpret the essential factors that affect their health and how health seeking is influenced by local notions and perceived aetiologies of illness and death could better inform sustainable interventions and health promotion efforts.

Rendering justice in witch trials: the case of the val de Lièpvre.

The borderland of the val de Lièpvre, with lands in Alsace and in the Duchy of Lorraine, and divided by religion and language, offers a rich collection of sources for the history of witchcraft persecution. The territory sharply reveals what was undoubtedly characteristic of witchcraft trials more widely. The crime of witchcraft was considered abominable before the Christian community and God, and its prosecution justified abandoning many of the safeguards and constraints in legal procedure, whether restrictions on the use of torture, the reliance on dubious testimony or even denial of advocacy to the witches. The action of the judges was nonetheless, as they understood it, the rendering of true justice, by punishing the culprits with a harshness that would expiate their crimes before the community and preserve them from damnation in the face of God's judgment.

"The Root is Hidden and the Material Uncertain": the challenges of prosecuting witchcraft in early modern Venice.

The rich archival records of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Venice have yielded much information about early modern society and culture. The transcripts of witchcraft trials held before the Inquisition reveal the complexities of early modern conceptions of natural and supernatural. The tribunal found itself entirely unable to convict individuals charged with performing harmful magic, or maleficio, as different worldviews clashed in the courtroom. Physicians, exorcists, and inquisitors all had different approaches to distinguishing natural phenomena from supernatural, and without a consensus guilty verdicts could not be obtained.

Can magical intervention affect subjective experiences? Adults' reactions to magical suggestion.

In three experiments, undergraduates' subjective experiences were affected by positive magical intervention. A large number of participants accepted the offer of magical help, yet the outcomes they reported were contrary to the aims of the magical intervention. In Experiment 1, participants were offered magical help that aimed to improve their practical skills. However, in the magical-suggestion condition, they reported no improvement significantly more frequently than in the control no-suggestion condition. In Experiment 2, participants who accepted the offer of magical help aimed at improving their general life satisfaction reported a significant decrease in this satisfaction. Those who declined the offer of magical help reported a significant increase in satisfaction. In Experiment 3, in the magical-suggestion condition, participants experienced bad dreams significantly more frequently than in the control condition. In conclusion, the data suggest that adult participants protect their subjective experiences against magical intervention.

Sorcery and publicity: the Cadière-Girard scandal of 1730-1731.

The Cadière-Girard trial of 1730-1731 is an early example of a sensational, nationally publicized French trial in which the major parties were private individuals. Cadière, a female penitent, accused Girard, her Jesuit confessor, of bewitching and raping her; Girard claimed that Cadière was guilty of slander. It was to be the last witchcraft trial in the francophone world. Another notable feature of the trial was its publicity, in which the contesting parties almost immediately became stand-ins for the Society of Jesus and for its Jansenist adversaries. This paper argues that certain anti-Jesuits, particularly Cadière's defence team and in the Parlement of Aix-en-Provence, acted to prolong the trial with the aim of creating as much bad publicity as possible for the Society of Jesus; it also shows how Jansenist publicists took advantage of the lengthy process, creating literature that "burned Girard in spirit," and with him, the Jesuits as a whole.

Reversing the gaze: constructing European race discourse as modern witchcraft practice.

In keeping with the challenge of (African American) historian of religions Charles Long to develop a mode of postcolonial encounter that is a process of mutual hermeneusis, I am proposing in this article to think "race" in terms of "indigenous ritual." At the very least it is an effort to relativize the western scientific paradigm and the universalizing humanities discourses that have nestled close to that paradigm. It is not an attempt to repudiate such an episteme but, rather-to borrow a jazz term-to "swing" it, to put it in antiphonal and improvisational circulation. More specifically, this article will trace a thought experiment, probing the historical emergence of white supremacist practice as a kind of modernist embodiment of "witchcraft discourse," which functions-in the institutional grammar it has left on deposit in contemporary social practice and the "intention to consume" (the substance of others) that it "rationalizes"-very much like the "primitive superstitions" it seeks to name and repudiate in positing its own rationalizing superiority. In such an enterprise, witchcraft, I am arguing, can be "good to think with" as a mode of communicative action, signifying with a kind of "boomerang effect" in the intercultural space of rupture between the West and the rest.