Ethnic identities and Ethnosciences in the practices of Healers

Abstract

The present study about the activities practiced by faith healers in Brazil aimed to identify the ethnic identities and ethnosciences that make up the plurality of social groups in which they work and what is their importance for the media. The objective, therefore, was to identify the different ethnic identities that influence the practices of the healers. For this, the bibliographic research methodology  descriptive and qualitative exploratory nature was adopted in order to obtain a systematic view of the subject. The study is justified due to the importance of knowing the ethical identities as well as the ethnoscience existing in the practices of  healers, recovering historical knowledge and a fundamental cultural wealth for a good part of the Brazilian population, since studies in the area are scarce. Fifteen articles on the practices  rezadeiras were analyzed, and the results obtained showed that there are many similarities between the practices of rezadeiras in different regions of Brazil and their differences are probably related to the origins that these peoples have. Therefore, it is concluded that they came from mainly African and indigenous matrices and that they have even more similarities due to the exchange between some of these cultures the Brazilian territory.