Trajectories of faith: an autoethnography based on the practices of traditional (prayer women) from Baixada Fluminense

Abstract

This article presents an autoethnic account of the construction of healing knowledge and practices through herbs and prayers in the Baixada Fluminense region. Based on the author's trajectory as an herbalist and granddaughter of a traditional healer, the investigation employs the concept of "escrevivência" to qualify the representation of peripheral subjects in their relationship with the territory. The study focuses on the generational transmission of ancestral Black-Indigenous knowledge, analyzing the trajectories of Dona Josefa, the family matriarch, and the healers Beth, Luiza, and Célia. The analysis reveals a "science of one's own" that resists religious racism and modern medicine. Therefore, the biographical process and memory are fundamental to understanding social reality, framing prayer not only as a mystical act but as a tool for community care and the preservation of ancestral identities in complex urban contexts. In these settings, the "gift" serves as technology, survival, and ancestral preservation, reaffirming the importance of validating folk knowledge as legitimate scientific production, essential for understanding contemporary social dynamics.