Abstract

MARTINEZ AGUILAR, Gabriela  and  SANCHEZ RAMIREZ, Georgina. Traditional Medicine in Pandemic. A Narrative from its Protagonists Benniza´a of the Valley of Oaxaca. Región y sociedad [online]. 2023, vol.35, e1685.  Epub Sep 04, 2023. ISSN 2448-4849.  https://doi.org/10.22198/rys2023/35/1685.

Objective: analyzing the traditional medicine in Tlacolula de Matamoros, Oaxaca during the COVID-19 pandemic to make visible its impact on their population’s health. Methodology: ethnography and the interviewees’ oral testimonies analysis about their personal experiences. Results: while the authorities attended the pandemic following the official discourse, but with inadequate means, the female healers treated the population’s various ailments, including the COVID-19 emergency, with traditional medicine resources. Limitations: due to the pandemic context three female healers from different communities were interviewed. Value: making know the traditional medicine’s prominence and revitalization, its reappropriation of public and private spaces by becoming a model of medical care, under pandemic conditions. Conclusions: during the pandemic in Mexico the hybridization of traditional medicine with hegemonic medicine contributed considerably to the decrease of morbidity and mortality among people with less means. It is highlighted the female healers’ role.

Keywords : COVID-19; female healers; Oaxaca; traditional medicine.