INTEGRALITY, INTERAGENCY AND HEALTH EDUCATION: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF NATUROLOGY

Abstract

Naturology is a dialog field between health knowledges characterized by plurality. It ranges from knowledge affiliated to various Western discipline, such as biology, psychology and anthropology to even not Western therapeutic practices that rementem to India, China and indigenous people . The undergraduate course in Naturology was founded in 1998, however, has its roots in the 1960’s counterculture and the New Age movement. Naturologists propose forms of health care based on a characteristic approach: naturológic vision. From this point of view, nature is approached as a totality in which everything and everyone is part, the processes of health/illness are seen as the loss of integration between humans and this totality and proposes naturolgic therapeutic relationship and horizontal symmetry between the caregiver and the one that is being care of. It is from the health education that naturólogos develop their therapeutic practice called interagency relationship, which is the big difference of professional Naturology. This new profession is still being regulated in Brazil and has great scope : spas, clinics, offices, schools, universitie, cruise lines , NGOs and the Health System are some of the places where naturólogos are working. This work complements the work of the single reflections graduate on Naturology written by a social scientist in Brazil. It dsescribse and analyze the dialogue of knowledge in Naturology was important for the expansion of knowledge about the approaches and practices of contemporary health and to identify their possible affiliation with the psi cultures with official concerning the medical system dissatisfactions. To understand how different Western and non-Western knowledge are being assimilated in teaching Naturology, institutional documents from UNISUL, one of the two universities where undergraduate degree is recognized by the Ministry of Education in Brazil were analyzed. To understand how naturólogos are operating the dialogue between knowledge in their everyday life respondents naturólogos formed at the same institution. The ethnographic description guided this work, which seeks to give voice to naturólogos to present who they are and say what they do. It was observed that Naturology maintains continuities and discontinuities concerning the New Age movement On one hand, this movement inherits the plurality of knowledge and emphasis on the individual, on the other hand, breaks with this movement to institutionalize up and negate an mystical or esoteric field of knowledge to his character. The subject that emerges from the research context can be seen from two points of view: one psychologized guy who plays a distinctive discourse of cultures psi, or a professional who challenges the established and renewed proposes ways to build knowledge and promote health. This new professional operates a dialogue between knowledge, conducted by naturologic vision, while naturologic vision is built through dialogue that helps conduct constituting this field as a kaleidoscope of health knowledge.