Da Aldeia à Universidade: vivências cotidianas de mulheres indígenas em uma universidade do estado do Amazonas

Abstract

The inclusion of indigenous peoples in public universities is the result of their individual and collective struggle for an education with equity and quality. Although the presence of indigenous women is more visible and active at university, this does not mean that their presence is without obstacles and difficulties, especially in relation to gender inequality and ethnic-racial discrimination. The aim of this research is to understand the daily experiences of indigenous women as university students at the School of Health Sciences (ESA). Methodologically, it is characterized as descriptive research with a qualitative approach, using authors from Social Psychology in dialogue with decolonial and indigenous authors as a theoretical contribution. As an instrument, we used semi-structured interviews and a field diary. Six indigenous women took part in the research, students of medicine (1), nursing (2) and dentistry (3), aged between 20 and 29. We analyzed the content of the interviews using the Thematic Analysis (TA) proposed by Braun and Clarke, in which we identified three central themes and seven sub-themes: 1. arrival and stay (previous challenges; daily challenges); 2. health (harmful factors; support networks; suggestions); 3. knowledge (knowledge and knowledge in health; knowledge that is found). The results revealed that indigenous women's struggle to enter university begins even before they arrive, starting when they leave their village, where the journey from village to university is characterized as not only a physical journey, but also a symbolic one. The experiences shared by the indigenous students revealed a worrying reality of social inequalities and socio-economic barriers that have accompanied them since elementary school and can be reinforced and perpetuated at university. In this context permeated by challenges and struggles to enter and remain at university, indigenous women daily carry out a movement of reterritorialization in an attempt to demarcate their space as indigenous, women and university students. These understandings highlight the importance not only of ensuring that indigenous students enter higher education, but also of providing adequate conditions for them to remain and complete their studies. The insurgent voices of the students demand the need for a university that respects and considers the specificities of this indigenous woman. By relating traditional knowledge to conventional medical knowledge about health care, they reinforced the possibility of coexistence and the meeting of different types of knowledge, contributing to the strengthening of their cultural identities and knowledge in the academic territory. Therefore, the university, as a space for building knowledge, must enable intercultural and decolonial dialogues that recognize, value and respect the health knowledge of indigenous peoples.