The ethnographic method in health researches: an anthropological thinking

Abstract

The article aims to reflect on the possible theoretical and methodological contributions of social science research in health, given the increasing incorporation of qualitative methodologies, particularly ethnography, this research. The starting point for this discussion are three theoretical and conceptual keys to the consolidation of the ethnographic method in its origin, in conjunction with the very assertion of anthropological science, assuming that by understanding what is the ethnographic practice, we also understand the importance of the anthropological explanation of the different socio-cultural phenomena, among them health, illness and strategies for treatment or cure. These assumptions - ethnocentrism, relativism and culture - marked so the research and production of anthropological knowledge, theory and method that have become inseparable. Thinking of repetition and constant replenishment of inseparability in a dialectical movement of concrete experience with learned theories can be a major strength of the social sciences, particularly anthropology, for research in health. The absence of this reflection seems to risk the compromise that can interface with the theoretical and methodological rigor in the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge, the reduction and simplification of the technique. On the other hand, this same inseparability leads us to inquire about possible contributions of the incorporation of ethnographic method in research in the health of anthropological knowledge.