‘Rio Negro, We care’. Indigenous women, cosmopolitics and public health in the COVID-19 pandemic

摘要

The purpose of this article is to understand the ‘Rio Negro, We Care’campaign in its cosmopolitical implications for discussions of globalhealth and human rights. This article is part of a collaborative processcentred on the city of S?o Gabriel da Cachoeira and the Alto Rio Negroregion of Brazil. This campaign was developed by the Department ofWomen of the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Rio Negro(DMIRN/FOIRN) at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It hadsignificant effects on the pandemic experience in the region during2020. The Brazilian responses to the COVID-19 pandemic highlightcomplex, intersectional and neocolonial processes, associated with whathas been understood as the necropolitics led by the Brazilian federalgovernment. At the same time, such responses shed light on thelimitations of the biopolitical orientation of public and global health forthe management of the pandemic. We seek to narrate a cosmopoliticalintervention located ‘in culture’ as a counterpoint to this process. Ouranalysis highlights questions in the field of global and planetary healthmilestones, such as the conditions of legitimacy for cosmologicalknowledge and care technologies, or the ontological implications of thepersistent biopolitical bias of mainstream public health interventions.