Mulheres da Federação das Sociedades de Assistência aos Lázaros e Defesa Contra a Lepra, 1926-1947 / Women from the Federation of Societies for the Care of Lepers and Defense Against Leprosy, 1926-1947

Resumo O estudo investiga o perfil familiar de mulheres que atuaram em importantes cargos com poder decisório na Federação das Sociedades de Assistência aos Lázaros e Defesa Contra a Lepra em diversas localidades do Brasil. Utilizando a prosopografia como técnica e método de pesquisa, buscou-se agregar informações sobre mulheres que mantiveram relações estreitas com a política de saúde para a lepra no país, de meados da década de 1920 ao final da década de 1940. A pesquisa reforça o entendimento do assistencialismo feminino pautado no controle e gerenciamento dos preventórios e sugere que a posição social/profissional dos pais e/ou maridos das mulheres que desempenharam funções na federação também concorreu para que elas agissem pela causa da doença.

Abstract This paper studies the family profiles of women holding key decision-making positions in the Federação das Sociedades de Assistência aos Lázaros e Defesa Contra a Lepra in different parts of Brazil. Using prosopography as a research method and technique, information was collated on women who were closely involved in Brazil's health policy concerning leprosy from the mid-1920s to the late 1940s. The research confirms the involvement of the women in the control and management of the country's preventoria and suggests that the social and professional standing of the fathers and/or husbands of the women who ran the federation was an element that influenced their actions towards the disease.

Physicians of ancient India.

A survey of Indian medical historiography will reveal no dearth of work on the systems of medicine and medical literature of ancient India. However, the people who were responsible for the healing have not received much attention. This article traces the evolution of the physician as a professional in ancient India. This article reviews the secondary literature on healing and medical practice in India, specifically pertaining to the individual medical practitioner, drawing from varied sources. The healers of ancient India hailed from different castes and classes. They were well-respected and enjoyed state patronage. They were held to the highest ethical standards of the day and were bound by a strict code of conduct. They underwent rigorous training in both medicine and surgery. Most physicians were multi-skilled generalists, and expected to be skilled in elocution and debate. They were reasonably well-off financially. The paper also briefly traces the evolution of medicinal ideas in ancient India.

Physicians of colonial India (1757-1900).

The period of British rule from 1757 to 1900 is marked by major sociopolitical changes and scientific breakthroughs that impacted medical systems, institutions, and practitioners in India. In addition, historians have debated whether the colonial regime used Western medicine as a tool to expand and legitimize its rule. This paper reviews the secondary literature on this subject with emphasis on the individual physicians. During this period, the practice of "Doctory" or Western medicine gained momentum in India, buoyed with the support of the British as well as Western-educated Indians. Many Indians were trained in Western medicine and employed by the administration as "native doctors" in the subordinate medical service, and the superior medical service by and large comprised Europeans. The colonial regime gradually withdrew most of its patronage to the indigenous systems of medicine. The practitioners of these systems, the vaidyas and the hakims, suffered significant loss of prestige against Western medicine's claims of being a more rational "superior" system of medicine. Some of them became purists and defended and promoted their systems, while others adopted the methods and ideas of Western medicine into their education and practice. European doctors now rarely interacted with practitioners of Indian systems, but seriously pursued research into medicinal plants and tropical diseases. There is no mention of specialist physicians in this period, and all physicians and surgeons were generalists. Folk practitioners continued to be popular among the masses.