Body-territory and the Role of Psychology in the Indigenous People's Healthcare Subsystem

Abstract

Indigenous people, in their diversity, hold an expanded understanding the territory more broadly.  By weaving non-predatory relationships with nature, they produce practices of bem viver (good living). This study aims to understand whether and how psychologists working within the Indigenous Peoples' Healthcare Subsystem of the Unified Health System reflect on the notion of territory as a co-producer of health for Indigenous people. Participatory research and semi-structured interviews were conducted with six psychologists working in the Special Indigenous Sanitary District of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo. Two analytical axes were constructed: 1) territory as a sociopolitical organization of each ethnic group, which is related to territorial conflicts and processes of ethnogenocide; 2) territory as a primary condition for indigenous health, as well as a conditio for the possibilities of ways of life guided by diverse cosmologies. is the study concludes that there is a need to radicalize psychology's ethical-political commitment by fighting for the demarcation of indigenous lands, valuing traditional knowledge, and encouraging social participation in the implementation of public policies for nature protection, essential factors for promoting these peoples' health and fostering bem viver.