Lógica cultural y lógica terapéutica en Alcohólicos Anónimos. Una etnografía en la periferia de la ciudad de São Paulo, Brasil

Resumen

Based on an ethnographic research of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups in the outskirts of Sao Paolo, Brazil, this paper presents as a symbolic construct in which alcoholism is conceived as a “physical” and “moral” illness that affects the social relationships of the former drinker. In AA, recovering alcoholics create a language about the disease that allows them to construct and give meaning to the experience of alcoholism within a logic regulated by a “biomorality”, whose rules emphasize self care, as well as cultural codes that constitute a particular socio-cultural context. In fact, AA’s therapeutic logic is encompassed by a cultural logic in which an individual deemed sick can find a place for his body and spirit, both ill, and reconcile with his family members and himself.