Health, Culture and Territory: contributions to thinking about the determination of the health-disease process from a counter-hegemonic museum

The purpose of this article is to understand how museums are spaces that can produce health based on the research experience at the Museu da Maré and how the museum’s relationships with the territory travel through this process. To do this, we problematized museums as a historical institution, their relationships with culture and territory, and we approached health in a broader way, weaving connections between the determination of the health-disease process and Canguilhem’s vitalism. We present the empirical study performed at said museum, located in the City of Rio de Janeiro, where eight interviews and a round table discussion were held. As a result, we discussed the links between social museology, territory and the decolonial approach as allies in the process of producing health, highlighting the conservation and valuation of local memory. Finally, we point out that these spaces can also be producers of disease, especially when linked to colonial logic.