Subaltern Epistemologies of Health: Collaborative Ethnographies from Colombia

In the first part I will present the results of over 10-years of collaborative work conducted at the oldest child and maternity hospital in Colombia. Along with powerful photography, this works highlights how subaltern epistemologies of medical care were created, advanced, practiced and thought at the most important medical school in Colombia and how workers, university professors, and students experienced, confronted, and resisted the privatization of the country’s health care system. The second part deals with ongoing efforts to support initiatives that promote peace building and healing in Colombia’s southwest region of Caquetá. Importantly, this research considers the role of medicinal plants not only in supporting new community relationships between displaced farmers and indigenous communities, but also in strengthening ancestral knowledge and practices and inter-species forms of care that are fundamental for Colombia’s post-peace accord times.