“Eu tenho a fama de ser um pouco transgressora!”: perspectivas interseccionais de enfermeiras negras

Abstract

This study used the theoretical-methodological framework of intersectional and decolonial feminisms, conceiving the need to problematize discrimination/oppression of gender, race, class, professional training and others, as phenomena in the field of social psychology. The objective of this study was to analyze the perception of self-declared black nurses regarding the hierarchies of knowledge and power in health care work. Seven nursing professionals who work/have worked in hospital units of the SUS in the State of Rio de Janeiro from March 2020 to the moment of the fieldwork were interviewed. The results were divided into two analytical categories: 1.“The Doctor is the demigod!” and the “Doctor without a doctorate!”; 2. Knowledge-power hierarchies and racial relations in health. The results showed that according to their perception, the medical category still exerts a discursive hegemony mainly in general hospitals and psychiatric hospitals. Nurses who hold a managerial/leadership position reported experiences of discrimination linked to gender, race, professional class, among others, and that they react to these through a posture of confrontation and fight against racist and sexist structures. It was concluded that the research shows the importance of questioning the socio-sexual and racial division of work in health and its implications, of acknowledging the protagonism to black women in research, and also the importance of the role of these women within health care in the SUS.