Decentralizing Global Health: The Geopolitics of Health Knowledge from a Latin American Perspective in the 20th Century

In this article, we explore the theoretical framework of the geopolitics of knowledge from the perspective of the (de)coloniality of knowledge and power, as outlined by Latin American authors. We draw on two case studies on health set in Latin America throughout the 20th century to illustrate our argument. Starting from the premise that all knowledge is necessarily situated, we reflect conceptually and empirically on the regimes of authorization and legitimation of health knowledge, as well as the epistemological disputes that operate in international relations. Methodologically, we refer to the analysis guided by the frameworks of Critical Global Health—which recognizes the limitations of health debates within the discipline of international relations—as the “decentralization of global health.” We therefore argue that the epistemic encounters occurring in postcolonial spaces impact the geopolitics of health knowledge, generating a hybrid conception that we call social biomedicine.