Conflitos culturais e práticas medicinais: os processos criminais de curandeiros em Guarapuava - Paraná de década de 1930

Abstract

This research focuses on discussing three criminal cases, where the defendants are accused of witchcraft, within the city of Guarapuava in the state of Paraná, in the 1930s. Each of these processes brings a unique social aspect, which contributes to the deepening understanding social relations introduced from the context of traditional medicine. Throughout the procedural pages it is possible to observe how people meander between the social dynamics imposed in the 1930s and their beliefs. From this aspect, mysticism, ancestral cultural practices and the social clash with new forms of Western medicine are present. The healer is credited with mystery, devotion and creeds, while in the political and social sphere, he ends up being seen as an obstacle to modernity and new forms of medical implementation. Throughout the pages of this research, this duality is presented in the form of accusations against healers and condemnation of their practices. Each of the men accused in the criminal cases detailed here are observed not only for their actions as healers, but for their behavior towards society. Demonstrating how cultural practices were approached and treated in the social and legal sphere. Even though such practices were incorporated by priests and even in the medical aspect, when healers took on the role of their ancestral practices, they are delegitimized and stigmatized by society. In this way, even abhorred by the colonizer, healing practices were socially implemented and naturalized, without giving due credit to the populations responsible for such events. Exploring these aspects, this research is based on the need to observe such social constructions, based on contact with criminal processes involving possible healers stored in the Historical Archive of Guarapuava - PR.