Études Caribéennes (Apr 2021)
L’atelier de dialogue local, une technique d’enquête pour la promotion de la santé materno-infantile
Abstract
In Haiti, holders of local and indigenous knowledge (matrons, mambos, leaf doctors, houngans…) living in rural areas are excluded from speaking out about health promotion. In 2016, we invited them to break the culture of silence by asking them to participate in a multi-day local dialogue workshop on the role of their knowledge in the care of maternal and child health in communities. Contrary to what many of us think, these people are not “cultural idiots”, but, for the most part, illiterate scholars who have developed multidimensional knowledge in order to manage, on an ongoing basis, their own health and that of others (including strangers as well as members of their biological family and their community). Through their participation in the dialogue workshops, they became more aware that they are living human treasures and traditional health promoters who play an important role in human (community resilience) and environmental sustainability. Our trusting relationship and close cultural proximity to the participants contributed to the success of the dialogue workshops, a success that shattered the myth of the mandatory link between the rural dwellers’ situation and absolute ignorance. In 2020, a local dialogue workshop on home birth was conducted to confront the knowledge of these people with the testimonies of the mothers. The objective of this article is to present our methodological approach.
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