Decolonising Public Health from the Margins: Experiences of Black Women Activists in Brazil
1
Health and Society, Faculty of Public Health of the University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
In post-democratisation Brazil, since the late 1980s, Black women activists have played a central yet under-recognised role in shaping debates on health, equity and public policy1,2. While discussions on the decolonisation of public health increasingly question whose knowledge counts in defining problems, policies and evidence, the epistemic contributions of these actors remain marginalised within academic and institutional health fields3. This study argues that the narratives of Black women engaged at the intersection of social movements, knowledge production and public health governance constitute a situated theory that challenges dominant epistemologies in public health.
METHODS:
This study is part of the project “Memories of Black Women in Movement for the Right to Health: Anti-Racist Struggles in Focus”, which aims to systematise the trajectories of Black women activists in Brazil (funded by FAPESP, no. 2023/13347-0). It draws on qualitative methods grounded in in-depth comprehensive interviews4 with Black women activists who have played central roles in social movements, public administration and civil society organisations since the late 1980s. Documentary analysis of materials produced by activists complemented the interviews.
RESULTS:
Participants articulate sophisticated critiques of technocratic policy-making, the myth of institutional neutrality, and the exclusionary logics shaping public health governance. Their accounts reveal how racism, sexism and colonial rationalities structure what is recognised as legitimate evidence and expertise. At the same time, they produce alternative frameworks grounded in lived experience, collective memory and political praxis, redefining concepts such as equity, participation and justice in health. These epistemic practices function as a decolonial movement5,6 that unsettle dominant paradigms of knowledge production in public health.
CONCLUSIONS:
Recognising Black women activists as knowledge producers is central to decolonising public health. Their narratives offer critical tools to rethink epistemic authority, redefine popular participation and expand the ethical and political horizons of the field.
In post-democratisation Brazil, since the late 1980s, Black women activists have played a central yet under-recognised role in shaping debates on health, equity and public policy1,2. While discussions on the decolonisation of public health increasingly question whose knowledge counts in defining problems, policies and evidence, the epistemic contributions of these actors remain marginalised within academic and institutional health fields3. This study argues that the narratives of Black women engaged at the intersection of social movements, knowledge production and public health governance constitute a situated theory that challenges dominant epistemologies in public health.
METHODS:
This study is part of the project “Memories of Black Women in Movement for the Right to Health: Anti-Racist Struggles in Focus”, which aims to systematise the trajectories of Black women activists in Brazil (funded by FAPESP, no. 2023/13347-0). It draws on qualitative methods grounded in in-depth comprehensive interviews4 with Black women activists who have played central roles in social movements, public administration and civil society organisations since the late 1980s. Documentary analysis of materials produced by activists complemented the interviews.
RESULTS:
Participants articulate sophisticated critiques of technocratic policy-making, the myth of institutional neutrality, and the exclusionary logics shaping public health governance. Their accounts reveal how racism, sexism and colonial rationalities structure what is recognised as legitimate evidence and expertise. At the same time, they produce alternative frameworks grounded in lived experience, collective memory and political praxis, redefining concepts such as equity, participation and justice in health. These epistemic practices function as a decolonial movement5,6 that unsettle dominant paradigms of knowledge production in public health.
CONCLUSIONS:
Recognising Black women activists as knowledge producers is central to decolonising public health. Their narratives offer critical tools to rethink epistemic authority, redefine popular participation and expand the ethical and political horizons of the field.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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