This article presents the result of research on the perceptions about the meanings, causes, symptoms and treatments of mental disorders in contemporary Timorese society. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 48 matan-dook – healers, doctors and mediators between the world of the living and the world of the dead by ancestral customs and practices – in the municipalities of Aileu, Ainaro, Dili, Liquiçá, Los Palos, Maliana, Manatuto, Manufahi and Viqueque. In general terms, mental disorders would have a somatic-psychic-spiritual character and would be the consequence of actions perceived as deviant from the socially established norm, constituting a rupture in the conception of harmony and social order.

During the 24-year Indonesian occupation of East Timor, thousands of people died, or were killed, in circumstances that did not allow the required death rituals to be performed. Since the nation’s independence, families and communities have invested considerable time, effort and resources in fulfilling their obligations to the dead. These obligations are imbued with urgency because the dead are ascribed agency and can play a benevolent or malevolent role in the lives of the living. These grassroots initiatives run, sometimes critically, in parallel with official programs that seek to transform particular dead bodies into public symbols of heroism, sacrifice and nationhood. The Dead as Ancestors, Martyrs, and Heroes in Timor-Leste focuses on the dynamic interplay between the potent presence of the dead in everyday life and their symbolic usefulness to the state. It underlines how the dead shape relationships amongst families, communities and the nation-state, and open an important window into — are in fact pivotal to — processes of state and nation formation.

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This article analyses some of the perceptions of women in the Timorese society. To organize the discussion, this article is divided into three parts. In the first part, I escribe an activity conducted with civil servants, in which four curricula vitae were handed out to two women and two men. They were asked to choose the one that presented the best qualifications for the position of a director in a project that would have social impact. In the second part, I analyse the results of a group dynamics study that was performed with 30 men and 30 women, in which they were asked to evaluate a hypothetical situation of  intrafamilial violence, as well as opinion research conducted with 50 women and 50 men on their understanding of domestic violence. In the third part, I describe some situations involving customary justice that is served, as it relates to violence against women. In both activities, it was found that there are general components (values, ethics, cultural norms), specific components (typical of men/women relationships), and singular components (each individual’s characteristics) governing the meanings and the perceptions of women in society.

Atualmente, a filosofia não integra o grupo de disciplinas básicas do currículo das escolas primárias e secundárias de Timor-Leste. Este estudo, realizado pelo Núcleo de Investigação Filosofia e Educação da Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas da UNTL, buscou compreender como os educadores das escolas secundárias percebem a filosofia, bem como identificar qual a possível contribuição do ensino de filosofia na escola. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com 48 professores de 12 escolas públicas e privadas.