Abstract

BETANCUR ALVARADO, Pablo. Between Humanitarianism and Social Justice: Disputes over Health and the Political Stance of the Temuco Black Cross Brigade in Contexts of Social Unrest in Chile. Antipod. Rev. Antropol. Arqueol. [online]. 2023, n.51, pp.25-49.  Epub May 07, 2023. ISSN 1900-5407.  https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda51.2023.02.

The Black Cross Brigade (La Brigada Cruz Negra) is a collective that emerged in Temuco, Chile, in October 2019 as a health volunteer group that -in response to excessive police violence- provides protection and assistance to protesters through health care in contexts of social unrest. In this respect, I analyze the evolution of the political dispute for health care by this collective in contexts of social unrest in Chile, in the period spanning from October 2019 to March 2020. The information collected is supported by an ethnography that took place during the months of December 2019 and July 2020, specifically by data building based on participant observation and ethnographic interviews. The results of the article are organized in two points. In the first, I present the different positions of the brigade members, which included, on the one hand, a group that intended to contribute to the people’s struggle and, on the other, a group that was understood by the brigade members as neutral. In the second point, I expose the dispute between these groups, reporting on the discussion concerning the role that the Black Cross Brigade should play as a health organization and political organization in the “social outburst.” I also reflect on the role of the meanings and uses of the body performed on the demonstrators and on themselves, and the construction of a collective identity in this process. The evolution of this dispute leads me to understand -based on Didier Fassin’s approaches- the Black Cross Brigade as an organization that strains the humanitarianism-social justice dichotomy. This, in turn, allows this article to reflect on the particularities of the struggles and resistance to violence in Latin America, based on the contributions of political anthropology and the anthropology of health.

Keywords : Health; humanitarianism; political posturing; social justice; social outburst..

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