A práxis da Unioeste com o projeto de extensão das plantas medicinais no bairro Padre Ulrico – Francisco Beltrão/PR.

Abstract

In this research we discuss university praxis based on extension projects developed by Unioeste, campus of Francisco Beltrão, named as “Recovering Traditional Knowledge: Cultivation and Use of Medicinal Plants in the Padre Ulrico Neighborhood”, “Recovering a Cultural Heritage: Knowledge Related to the Cultivation and Use of Medicinal Plants in the Padre Ulrico Neighborhood”, and “Amarbem/Cimmad Community Garden”. Coordinated by Professors Luiz Carlos Flávio and Roseli Alves dos Santos, the projects preserved and strengthened popular knowledge of medicinal plants in order to promote agroecological practices and encourage collective work within the territory. The study presents the trajectory of these extension activities and discusses their theoretical foundations, objectives, challenges, and the social impacts generated in the lived spaces of the participants. The reflection is situated within the context of Brazilian university extension and addresses its historical process of institutionalization and its contributions to a transformative relationship between university and society. This qualitative study is based on a literature review, interviews, and field observation, and also analyzes how the practices developed impacted the subjects involved and contributed to the appreciation of the relationship between traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge, especially with regard to the cultivation and use of medicinal plants.