The community of Pau Rosa/Amazonas and the relationship between nature, culture and the health/disease process

Abstract

The objective of the present work is to understand the view of Pau Rosa community, located in a rural area, approximately 30 km far from the city of Manaus, State of Amazonas, about the health/disease process and its relationship to nature. It is a qualitative research that is based on the presupposition that health and disease are socially and culturally built (Langdon, 1995). The fieldwork was composed of observations and collection of narratives. The data were collected in three moments: January 2007, July to October 2007, and in January/February 2008. The data analysis method had three stages or chronological poles, in agreement with Bardin (2004). The results show that nature and the health/disease process are intertwined and maintain a constant bond, in which nature sometimes provides aid and safety, sometimes it causes diseases. Therefore, it was possible to verify that the relationship between nature and the health/disease process is organized in a universe of reciprocities.