Neither Doctor nor Shaman: Health Education in the Practice of Indigenous Psychologists

Abstract

ABSTRACT. This article examines the possibilities of rapprochement between psychology, Indigenous cosmologies, and Indigenous healing systems through the work of Indigenous psychologists engaged in Indigenous health care. It seeks to understand how they construct an ethnically differentiated psychosocial approach with the communities they serve. The analysis begins with a critical perspective of the colonial, biomedical, and technicist character of traditional psychology and argues for its reinvention in light of Indigenous contexts and the challenges of professional practice in Indigenous territories. Methodologically, this is a field study that brings together Critical Social Psychology and ethnography. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with Indigenous psychologists working in Indigenous health services and analyzed using a historical-dialectical materialist framework. The findings indicate that psychological practice with Indigenous communities must be grounded in respect and committed to valuing Indigenous cosmologies and healing systems, moving beyond classificatory, pathologizing, and colonial approaches. In this context, health education emerges as a central tool for building intercultural bridges among biomedicine, psychology, and traditional knowledge, while also enabling psychologists to be understood within the communities. The study concludes that these professionals are developing an “Indigenized” psychology through practice, rooted in listening, coexistence, and the recognition of Indigenous ways of producing health, thereby strengthening autonomy and the defense of Indigenous rights.