Alexandre Branco-Pereira

Grant Type

Dissertation Fieldwork Grant

Institutional Affiliation

Federal U. of São Carlos

Grant number

Gr. 10496

Approve Date

April 6, 2023

Project Title

Branco-Pereira, Alexandre (Sao Carlos, Fed. U. of) "Between universalism and equity: racialized migrants’ and healthcare during the pandemic in Brazil and Canada"

ALEXANDRE BRANCO-PEREIRA, then a graduate student at Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, Brazil, was awarded funding in April 2023 to aid research on “Between Universalism and Equity: Racialized Migrants’ and Healthcare during the Pandemic in Brazil and Canada,” supervised by Dr. Igor Machado. This ethnographic research investigates the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic over Black and Indigenous migrant communities in São Paulo, Brazil, and Toronto, Canada. Focusing on their access to healthcare and to vaccines during the pandemic, it reveals how the idea of universality can serve as a mechanism of suppression of racial, social and economic differences in “multicultural” and “mixed-raced” societies. Understanding how universal healthcare systems managed to produce or not inclusiveness for racialized migrants during the pandemic, as well as learning how universality can be used as an argument to deny migrants’ requests for equity-oriented healthcare policies is key to understand how pro-equality policies can be used to reverberate and deepen historical segregation mechanisms. The study highlights how tensions between universality and equity emerged in contexts where political demands about the healthcare system were made by racialized migrants. It also delineates the correlation between migration, health and racialization processes as critical factors determining migrants’ access to healthcare and vaccines during the pandemic. Finally, it explores the notion of “anti-basement politics,” a form of political activism by racialized migrants aimed at challenging and reshaping the power dynamics between them and state agents, represented by health managers and professionals.

Publications

Branco-Pereira, Alexandre (2023), Tensions between universality and equity in the access of racialised immigrants to the SUS in the metropolis of São Paulo during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vibrant, Virtual Braz. Anthr. 20 Branco-Pereira, Alexandre et al. (2024) Fellows Brief: Epidemic/Pandemic Preparedness in Brazil Amongst Transnational Migrants. The Institute of Development Studies and Partner Organisations. Report. https://doi.org/10.19088/SSHAP.2024.046