"Corpo-território" concept as a cosmopolitics determinant of indigenous health in Brazil: perspectives from indigenous and non-indigenous researchers.
1
Collective Health Department, Post-Graduate Programme in Collective Health, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil
2
Post-Graduate Programme of Collective Health, Observatory of Public Policies and Health Education Research Group, Londrina State University (UEL), Londrina, Brazil
3
Post-Graduate Programme in Social Anthropology, Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
In Brazil, Indigenous health is shaped by persistent epistemic, territorial, and political asymmetries within public health systems. This study examines the concept of corpo-território (CT) (body–territory) as an analytical and practical framework capable of fostering intercultural and isonomic dialogue between Indigenous Medicines and Brazilian Collective Health. Inspired by the logic of Brazilian Indigenous basketry, CT is approached as a woven concept connecting care, land, ancestry, and political agency.
OBJECTIVES:
The study aims to analyse how corpo-território, as articulated by Brazilian Indigenous thinkers of care, contributes to rethinking dominant conceptions of health, care, and clinical practice in collective and public health contexts.
METHODS:
A qualitative and interdisciplinary approach was adopted, combining a review of academic literature and official policy documents with open-ended interviews conducted with Indigenous researcher–students affiliated with the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). In addition, reflexive entries from the field journal of a non-Indigenous PhD researcher were analysed. Particular attention was given to the conceptual contributions of Indigenous thinkers, including Célia Xakriabá, João Paulo Lima Barreto, Paulo César de Oliveira, Rejane Nunes de Carvalho, Sonia Benites, Ailton Krenak, and Davi Kopenawa Yanomami.
RESULTS:
Findings suggest that CT operates as a “softer technology” of care that challenges biomedical universalism and linear causal models. Four interrelated dimensions emerged: (1) an expanded notion of the clinic beyond institutional settings; (2) care situated within ancestral temporalities and spatialities; (3) CT as an expression of Indigenous women’s agency and resistance in organising health care; and (4) care practices understood as inherently cosmopolitical, involving human and non-human relations.
CONCLUSIONS:
Corpo-território emerges as a key cosmopolitical determinant of Indigenous health in Brazil, enabling a critical repositioning of care within Collective and Public Health and contributing to the education of health professionals grounded in intercultural and multinaturalistic perspectives beyond multicultural or colonising “One Health” frameworks.
In Brazil, Indigenous health is shaped by persistent epistemic, territorial, and political asymmetries within public health systems. This study examines the concept of corpo-território (CT) (body–territory) as an analytical and practical framework capable of fostering intercultural and isonomic dialogue between Indigenous Medicines and Brazilian Collective Health. Inspired by the logic of Brazilian Indigenous basketry, CT is approached as a woven concept connecting care, land, ancestry, and political agency.
OBJECTIVES:
The study aims to analyse how corpo-território, as articulated by Brazilian Indigenous thinkers of care, contributes to rethinking dominant conceptions of health, care, and clinical practice in collective and public health contexts.
METHODS:
A qualitative and interdisciplinary approach was adopted, combining a review of academic literature and official policy documents with open-ended interviews conducted with Indigenous researcher–students affiliated with the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). In addition, reflexive entries from the field journal of a non-Indigenous PhD researcher were analysed. Particular attention was given to the conceptual contributions of Indigenous thinkers, including Célia Xakriabá, João Paulo Lima Barreto, Paulo César de Oliveira, Rejane Nunes de Carvalho, Sonia Benites, Ailton Krenak, and Davi Kopenawa Yanomami.
RESULTS:
Findings suggest that CT operates as a “softer technology” of care that challenges biomedical universalism and linear causal models. Four interrelated dimensions emerged: (1) an expanded notion of the clinic beyond institutional settings; (2) care situated within ancestral temporalities and spatialities; (3) CT as an expression of Indigenous women’s agency and resistance in organising health care; and (4) care practices understood as inherently cosmopolitical, involving human and non-human relations.
CONCLUSIONS:
Corpo-território emerges as a key cosmopolitical determinant of Indigenous health in Brazil, enabling a critical repositioning of care within Collective and Public Health and contributing to the education of health professionals grounded in intercultural and multinaturalistic perspectives beyond multicultural or colonising “One Health” frameworks.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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