“Gingers are for women”: Self-care and agency in childcare among awajún women

Abstract

In the face of traditional medicalizing forces and the reduction of women to the role of mothers and users of healthcare facilities, indigenous women’s knowledge of care and healing emerges as a response that embodies agency, affection, and creativity. To illustrate this, this article draws on ethnographic research to document some of the ways Awajún women use ginger (Zingiber officinale), a key resource in the therapeutic practices they employ with their children to address a variety of ailments. This is explored in depth through the description of a self-care process observed in the domestic setting of an Awajún woman in Santa María de Nieva (Amazonas region, Condorcanqui province). In this way, the use of this resource, documented by researchers several decades ago, is being reproduced and revitalized today through women’s exchange networks; and it serves as a clear example of creative appropriation.