O olhar estrangeiro para as doenças, os remédios e as práticas de cura indígenas: uma análise da obra Natureza, doenças, medicina e remédios dos índios brasileiros (1844) de Karl Friedrich Phillip von Martius

Abstract

Between the years of 1817 and 1820 the Bavarian naturalists Karl Friedrich Phillip von Martius and Johann Batist von Spix realized an expedition in Brazilian lands, covering a great part of the territory. Here, they had contact with several indigenous peoples and, from the visit, produced several works on Brazil and its inhabitants. The main source of this research is a book produced by Martius whose title is Nature, diseases, medicine and drugs of the brazilian indians, published in Germany, in the year 1844. In it, the author devotes himself to the study and description of the way in which the indians understood and dealt with the disease, how they healed, and what drugs and practices they used. Our purpose here is to understand how Martius made his readers see the indigenous and their healing practices, or, how he looked at the other, how he constructed alterities and identities from his writings, how he translated what he saw and lived among in the Brazilian lands. Ultimately, how he evaluated and justified the similarities and differences between European medicine and the healing arts of Brazilian natives.