Western Amazonian episthemologies on healing and knowledge production
This talk will outline the possibility of generating an intercultural philosophical thought based on ethnographic research on the medicinal and spiritual practices of indigenous healers of the Peruvian Amazon. It deals with generating a discourse that allows the ancestral knowledge of indigenous nations to open a horizontal and respectful and decolonizing dialogue with Eurocentric scientific approaches. This presentation will discuss the epistemologies and ontologies of the indigenous Amazon people to elaborate on the necessity of its inclusion in local health care systems and research agendas. Such approach can facilitate the possibility of free expression of the ancestral knowledge, keeping their poetic and affective temperament, and at the same time offering a significative contribution to widen our notions and understanding of the human condition.

Pedro Favaron, PhD (Lima 1979). Academic researcher, poet, writer, Peruvian-Argentine social and visual communicator. Doctor Literature, University of Montréal. He has specialized in the study of the Andean, Amazonian and American indigenous peoples, developing a philosophical and ecological thought based on the ancestral wisdom of these nations and medicinal ceremonies. He has also specialized in different topics of interculturality and in the generation of respectful dialogue between modernity and the ancestral thought of indigenous peoples. He holds the degree of master’s in communication and Culture, awarded by the Faculty of Social Sciences, of the University of Buenos Aires. He has published several books on poetry, essays, academic and narrative research in Peru, Argentina and Mexico, as well as articles in specialized scientific journals. In parallel with his academic training, he has worked since 1998 researching the use of medicinal plants and medicinal knowledge among different indigenous peoples of the Americas, especially in Peru and Canada. He is a registered community member of the native community of Santa Clara de Yarinacocha, where he has founded the Nishi Nete traditional medicine clinic and an ancestral studies centre.

Co-organised with the Latin American Centre, University of Oxford, and the Embassy of Peru in the United Kingdom.
Date: 9 December 2019, 15:00 (Monday, 9th week, Michaelmas 2019)
Venue: 64 Banbury Road, 64 Banbury Road OX2 6PN
Speaker: Dr Pedro Favaron (University of Montreal)
Organising department: School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography
Organiser contact email address: kate.atherton@anthro.ox.ac.uk
Topics:
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Kate Atherton