Traditional knowledge and social media: benzer in Campo Grande and along the Bioceanic Route

Abstract

This article examines the role of social media in the circulation and reinterpretation of traditional knowledge, focusing on the practice of benzer as a central case. Recognized as intangible cultural heritage, benzer is part of Brazil’s collective memory, connecting spirituality, popular health practices, and cultural identity. The research adopts a qualitative approach, combining content analysis and exploratory interviews, with a territorial focus on Campo Grande (MS), known as the Gateway to the Bioceanic Route. Findings indicate that, at the national level, benzedeiras (female healers) use digital platforms to recreate narratives and expand visibility, while in Campo Grande the practice remains rooted in community spaces and oral traditions, largely absent from social networks. This digital absence, rather than implying erasure, highlights resistance to commodification and reinforces the centrality of lived experience and collective memory. The study concludes that social media provides opportunities for preservation and intergenerational transmission, but also carries risks of cultural decharacterization, underscoring tensions between globalization and tradition, commodification and safeguarding, visibility and invisibility of ancestral knowledge.