Anthropology and Social Work: intersectionality and the humanitarian crisis of 2020

Abstract

The dialogue between Anthropology and the Social Work course, proposed in this essay, discusses intersectionality as a possibility of understanding the advance of ultraconservatism and ultraliberalism in the emergence of the 2020 humanitarian crisis. In Latin America, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, an outbreak of a disease that affects large numbers of people, throws into question the own definition of humanity, directly affecting the black, indigenous and peripheral populations, historically targeted by the domination strategies imposed upon the so-called Third World. Although oppressions intersect with each other, they are made invisible by the universalizing category of human that guides authoritarian policies. The hermeneutic field of intersectionality is being activated by the anthropological approach as a tool to analyze the social markers of difference and inequality, with the purpose of revealing the population groups that have been most threatened by the pandemic. It is expected to contribute to critical thought in the formation of social workers in and for the Amazon.