Epistemic and participatory justice in health access for women from Mapuce communities. Childbirth health care

Abstract

This article proposes a geosituated analysis of health care for women from indigenous Mapuce communities in Argentina, from the framework of epistemic and participatory justice. At first, the conceptions that these communities have regarding health-disease and their ways of living the moment of childbirth are characterized. In a second moment, the specific violence to which Mapuce women are subjected in the care of childbirth by the hegemonic medical model becomes evident when they do not contemplate their ancestral knowledge and their ways of giving birth. Finally, reflections are offered regarding the need to rethink the public health system with the clear objective of promoting a human rights approach, centered on intercultural and inter-systemic health care. In the conclusion, it was considered highly relevant to start from the narration of the struggles and resistances from the voice of these women, to attend to a more situated approach with respect to the stories of the experiential experiences that the Mapuce women described about the characteristics of care. healthcare they receive. In this aspect, various situations of obstetric and cultural violence could be verified from the very actions of the hegemonic health system. Indeed, it is argued that it is imperative to build bridges that expand epistemic horizontalities and the democratization of democracy.