Between public policies and social experiences: impacts of ethnographical research in the field of mental health and its multiples devolutions

Authors

  • Sônia Weidner Maluf Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas; Departamento de Antropologia
  • Ana Paula Müller de Andrade Universidade Federal de Pelotas; Faculdade de Enfermagem

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-12902017168331

Keywords:

Anthropology, Mental Health, Public Policies, Methodology

Abstract

The theme of return or devolution of research in anthropological research is not recent, and since the 1990s is a focus of analysis and debates. The aim of this article is, recognizing that are several forms of devolution, return or restitution of ethnographical research in the field of health, to discuss the specificity of this devolution in the case of the research in the sphere of public policies and the State. The data analyzed come from an ethnographic research conducted by a team of researchers since 2006, which focuses on a reflection on the intersections between gender, health, and distress from an approach of the “mental health field”. The context of our approach is the process of Psychiatric Reform in Brazil and two dimensions of the research: an anthropological of the policies of mental health, in their dimensions of gender; and an anthropology in the public policies, as integrant of the politics of deinstitutionalization of mental health in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The analyzes show the importance of confronting public policies with social experiences in order to guarantee a qualitative evaluation of public policies themselves. Moreover, they demonstrate that the contribution of anthropology goes beyond instrumentalizing the application of such policies since it contributes in the construction of theoretical and ethnographic instruments to rethink the internal logic of such policies.

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Published

2017-03-01

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Between public policies and social experiences: impacts of ethnographical research in the field of mental health and its multiples devolutions. (2017). Saúde E Sociedade, 26(1), 171-182. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-12902017168331