INDIGENOUS COSMOLOGY OF DISABILITY AND THE CONCEPT OF "INTERFERENCE": THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR DECOLONIAL SPECIAL EDUCATION IN THE AMAZON

Abstract

This article delves into a key finding from the doctoral thesis "Toward an Inclusion with Indigenous Roots: The Intersection of Indigenous School Education and Special Education in Amazonas," currently in its final stages for defense at the Graduate Program in Education (PPGE) of the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM). The study explores Indigenous conceptions of disability among the Karapãna and Baré peoples of the Parque das Tribos Community in Amazonas. In contrast to the Western biomedical model, the research reveals a holistic and spiritual understanding of disability, re-conceptualized through the concept of "ingeramento" as a native cosmo-ontological framework. This "ingeramento" attributes a spiritual and gnostic purpose to disability, informing collective practices of care and inclusion that challenge individual pathologization and medicalization. The analysis, grounded in Social Representations Theory, Critical Interculturality, and Narrative Analysis, demonstrates the theoretical and practical implications of this cosmovision for the decolonization of Special Education, proposing genuinely intercultural and pluri-epistemic approaches. The article discusses how this Indigenous perspective can transform educational practices, fostering an inclusion that values diversity as a source of enrichment and knowledge.