Significados de salud, enfermedad desde la medicina Okuirede

Abstract

The objective of this research was to identify the encounters and misunderstandings concerning the meanings of health / illness of three participants and a doctor in light of Okuirede Medicine (Ancestral knowledge). The research finds an authentic space for dialogue with ancestral knowledge from the viewpoint of social constructionism, approaching the phenomenon of interest as a consensual reality in the narratives of the participants and the result of the interaction and negotiation of meanings (Gergen 1996). Therefore, a qualitative methodology is used through the systematization of experiences that allowed critical interpretation based on the statements of three users and a doctor through participant observation and in-depth interviews that enabled the reconstruction and ordering of the experience with Okuirede Medicine. The results show that plants are the main mediators of health / illness in ancestral knowledge, resulting in altered states of consciousness. Likewise, it considers illness as an error of the intellect stemming from a disconnection from being in its entirety, which contains an alienated symbol and a metaphor for each individual. As a consequence, the root or personal meaning of the illness is sought in order to generate new understandings that integrate the being in its totality, therefore the illness is considered as a power. Finally, from this state of inhabiting the body, deep thought and a sweet word arise, where the human being learns about himself and the universe.