The Right to Health Care Viewed from the Indigenous Research Paradigm: Violations of the Rights of an Aymara Warmi in Chile's Tarapacá Region.

This paper reflects on the right to health care from the Indigenous research paradigm. We analyze the case of an Aymara wise warmi (woman) who died after the Chilean health care system failed to provide culturally appropriate care. In the wake of her death, our cooperative launched an interdisciplinary and collaborative research project in an effort to file an administrative complaint against the family health center that treated her. We explore the events surrounding her treatment and death, as well as the institutional written response. Our work elucidates the significant differences that exist between institutional and Indigenous perspectives on what constitutes a violation of the right to health care. We demonstrate that in order to establish the existence of such violations, Aymara people are compelled to develop evidence using a naturalistic scientific and legal framework that does not coincide with their ontology. Consequently, some events and violations are not legally recognized as culturally inappropriate health care unless they are viewed through an Indigenous lens. Finally, we reflect on the problem of evidence production, specifically regarding the right to health care. We argue that the fight for the right to health care can benefit from the Indigenous research paradigm-not only for the benefit of Indigenous people but also to provide culturally appropriate care to all people.

La subordinación ideológica del saber médico andino en la salud intercultural chilena / The ideological subordination of the Andean Medical Knowledge in Chilean Intercultural Health

Existen pocos estudios que aborden los procesos ideológicos presentes en las relaciones interculturales propiciadas por las iniciativas de Salud de los Pueblos Indígenas en Chile. Nuestro objetivo es mostrar cómo los elementos ideológicos del Saber Biomédico contribuyen a la subordinación del Saber Andino al interior de dichos programas. Para esto, expondremos material etnográfico producido entre 2011 y 2012 en la comunidad de Camiña, Tarapacá. Posicionados desde la Antropología Médica Crítica, analizamos la ideología biomédica sobre el Saber Andino, así como las propuestas para la interculturalidad que surgen desde el personal biomédico. Concluimos reflexionando cómo la negación del carácter ideológico de la racionalidad biomédica, refuerza la subordinación del Saber Andino, produciendo un efecto opuesto al mentado en la política pública.

There are few studies that address the ideological processes present in the intercultural relations fostered by the Indigenous Peoples Health initiatives in Chile. Our objective is to show how the ideological elements of Biomedical Knowledge contribute to the subordination of Andean Knowledge within these programs. For this, we will exhibit ethnographic material produced between 2011 and 2012 in the community of Camiña, Tarapacá. Positioned from the Critical Medical Anthropology, we analyze the biomedical ideology on the Andean Knowledge, as well as the proposals for the interculturality that arise from the biomedical personnel. We conclude by reflecting on how the denial of the ideological character of biomedical rationality reinforces the subordination of Andean Knowledge, producing an adverse effect on public policy.