Paper Short Abstract:

How can collaborative research navigate the tension between a scientific framework and non-Western knowledge? Recognizing the Urarina’s expertise in balancing the delicate borders between Self and Other, this contribution discusses how relational ontologies can inspire new approaches to reciprocity.

Paper Abstract:

Collaborative health policy guidelines prove ineffective, as the scope of participation assigned to subaltern knowledge is confined to aspects that align with the Western framework. Neglecting the reciprocal question concerning the (im)possibility of integrating biomedicine into the Indigenous framework sustains the hegemonic power imbalance, self-undermining the goal of addressing health disparities.

Drawing from six months of medical practice at a local health station, followed by another six months of immersive ethnographic engagement with the Urarina of Peruvian Amazonia, this contribution reflects on the impact of shifting perspectives. Guided by Community Based Participatory Research principles, the methodology involved collaborative workshops with Indigenous Community Health Workers (CHW), participant observation of illness cases and interviews with patients and local healers. Reflecting on the conceptual tensions this inquiry poses for the multidisciplinary researcher complements the analysis of CHWs' plural perspective.

The study interprets the role of Indigenous CHW as a contemporary continuity of shamanic practice: diplomats negotiating across the borders of multiple ontological worlds who’s intricate dynamics of temporary overlapping manifest in cases of illness.

Practical engagement with Animism stimulates the (un)doing of universalism as the notion of radical alterity disperses through the recognition of shared underlying logics. Combining ontological and practical approaches opens novel opportunities to learn from the practice of shifting perspectives closely linked to relational ontologies. This can help Western stakeholders to engage in plurality, fostering collaborative approaches to address structural and intercultural barriers in seeking and promoting health.