Raizeiras, territory, and care: traditional knowledges in dialogue with collective health

Flávia Liparini Doctora en Salud Colectiva. Investigadora, Laboratorio de Prácticas Alternativas Complementarias e Integrativas en Salud, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brasil. image/svg+xml , Daniela Droguetti Christovam Doctoranda en Salud Colectiva, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brasil. image/svg+xml , Lucely Pio Maestra Raizeira. Socia fundadora, Articulação Pacari, Mineiros, Brasil.
Received: 31 March 2026, Accepted: 4 July 2026, Published: 21 August 2026 Open Access
https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2026.6238
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Abstract


Amid ongoing disputes over the recognition of the knowledges held by Indigenous peoples and traditional communities, this interview with Master Lucely Pio — a raizeira, quilombola leader from the Cedro Community (Goiás, Brazil), and a leading advocate for the protection of the Cerrado — examines the contemporary challenges surrounding the preservation, transmission, and legitimization of traditional care practices. Organized around three thematic axes — cultural practices and public policies, the Cerrado as a condition for health, and the knowledge of raizeiras — the conversation explores the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, the relationships between territory, spirituality, and care, the education of new generations, the tensions between health regulations and traditional knowledge, and the role of women in preserving these practices. Throughout the interview, Lucely Pio advances a conception of care that integrates body, mind, spirit, nature, and community, challenging the fragmentation characteristic of the biomedical paradigm while affirming the epistemological and political value of traditional knowledge. Rather than reconstructing an individual trajectory, the interview brings into view a collective experience of resistance, knowledge production, and political advocacy that questions the boundaries conventionally drawn between nature and culture, science and tradition, and health and the environment. From this perspective, it contributes to contemporary debates on epistemic diversity, cognitive justice, and collective health.

Keywords: Medicina tradicionais, plantas medicinales, conhecimentos tradicionais

Categories: Epistemology

Full-text of the article is available for this language: Español.


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