Date of Award
Spring 5-15-2015
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Abstract
In 1988, after the 1985 termination of the military dictatorship in Brazil, the constitution was rewritten to guarantee individual rights to all citizens of Brazil. Among the various other rights that the new constitution protected, anyone in Brazil was granted the right to government-funded healthcare under the regulation of the Unified Healthcare System, SUS. Because of structural inequalities in Brazil as well as the rise of privatized healthcare, equal access to healthcare is not a reality in modern-day Brazil. Many citizens who live in the periphery are limited to understaffed and underfunded primary health centers.
This monograph explores the healing methods that are intrinsic to the Brazilian Umbanda religion and the connections that are being made between Umbanda and SUS in the attempt to improve universal access to healthcare. Through interviews, observations, and gira participation, this paper not only looks at past, present, and future of healthcare programs that involve the bidirectional flow of healthcare knowledge between health centers and terreiros, Umbanda religious centers, but also concludes that integrating holistic, traditional healing into the conventional biomedical system has the potential to improve the quality of healthcare for all citizens. This paper argues, however, that this potential is limited by the heavy stigmatization and marginalization of the populations that develop these treatments and lack of continuity of program development as a result of government structure. The topic is then contextualized within the larger framework of healthcare in Brazil through a discussion of João Biehl’s research on the Brazilian AIDS initiative.
Language
English (en)
Advisor/Committee Chair
Carolyn Sargent
Advisor/Committee Chair's Department
Anthropology
Second Advisor
Peter Benson
Second Advisor's Department
Anthropology
Third Advisor
John Bowen
Third Advisor's Department
Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Rosenthal, Alex E., "Syncing Umbanda and Science (SUS): Using Umbanda’s Holistic Healing Methods to Increase Access to Healthcare" (2015). Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted. 51.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/undergrad_open/51
Included in
Alternative and Complementary Medicine Commons, International Public Health Commons, Other Anthropology Commons