Women that echo Knowledge: idiosyncrasy and linguistic oxymoron in the utterances of healers from the middle of the Sertão Maranhense

Abstract

The research was carried out in the mid-sertão region of Maranhão, northeast of Brazil. The sociolinguistic diversity in Brazil is quite remarkable, above all, considering the amalgamation between the three main matrices of the formation of the national culture (Europeans, indigenous and Africans). In this context, prayers and blessings, very common throughout the Brazilian national territory, became founding elements of our analysis, when we began to investigate the linguistic hybridization present in the utterances of practices related to therapies linked to prayers and blessings. The knowledge of these specialists is based on values ​​acquired by past generations transmitted through popular empiricism and that, hypothetically, survive in current times interconnected by various dilemmas. Theoretically, we dialogue with the perspective of the unconscious and the power of speech, seeking to identify the echoes of knowledge among these specialists. The methodology used was direct observation, prevailing the participation in the main rituals/ceremonials and monitoring of the mourners during the therapeutic work in a period of six months. Contemporary instruments of data collection were used, such as conversations via digital media, video production that later became analytical assumptions. The result that was found reveals a plural hybridization in the utterances of prayers and blessings, configuring specific identities for these specialists.