Plant life

Abstract

This documentary tells the personal experiences of people closely linked to the care of medicinal plants and how this relationship was built over time. We have Antônio who has a wealth of knowledge built on medicinal plants and their benefits for human health. Margareth tells how this experience was being built within the Base Ecclesiastical Communities in the Conquista neighborhood in Santarém, in addition to Helton's experience as a merchant selling herbs, baths and oils. Paulo Borari, the shaman and also an anthropologist, gives a relevant testimony when he thinks that the use of herbs includes not only their objective, given aspect; but also the treatment of health-disease, populated by systems where non-humans circulate and create meanings for health, illness, luck, bad luck, the evil eye.

The narrative of the documentary video ends with Lioni's witty and sensitive speeches and her careful treatment with plants and how her life is intertwined with the life of plants. In this way, medicinal plants, also called herbs here, are vehicles where ideas, conceptions and beliefs about the world are interconnected, generating engagements and affiliations. The specific conversation between the customer and the market seller summarizes this argument and defines as a setting the rich universe of beliefs that feed the Amazonian imagination and builds a world of meanings and practices for everyday life and beyond.