Juvyy, marshes, springs, and streams: water and health in the Kaiowá territory of Panambizinho, MS, Brazil

Abstract

We describe tesãi renda, sites of health – of medicinal plants and spiritual agency – in a Kaiowa territory in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, registering the use of hydric and botanical resources within the cosmology of this Guarani indigenous collective, especially in juvyy: springs, streams, and marshes. Research was conducted in Panambizinho, an area demarcated in 2004 after centuries of colonization and environmental degradation. Besides speaking with nhandesy women, we collected, cultivated, and used plant medicines, thus studying and actively recovering a space where the Kaiowa live in interdependence with nature, communicating and negotiating with its entities. Recording and practicing this body of knowledge and advice demonstrated that the domestic use of their ancestral medicines and knowledge preserves these places. This mapping requires further collective efforts from community, governments, universities, and partners. The juvyy of Panambizinho resist as sacred places of health, keeping alive their guardians, járy, and their medicinal powers.