Analysis of the relationship of the body/emotions with health in Western epistemology from a decolonial and biocultural perspective

Abstract

The epistemology of the Global North has apprehended the body from the dehumanization of the enslaved
and colonized populations in the process of conquest by the European elites. The invasion of Abya Yala
and Africa was fundamental both in the appropriation of resources and of people who served as objects
of study and experimentation. The purpose of this was to give it a scientific character and legitimize the
domination and expropriation of communities, knowledge and territories around the world. Because of
this, they developed ideas and conceptions about health/disease that are still valid today, and permeate
research, public policies and the way we relate and take care of our bodies/emotions. In this paper I analyze,
relativize and question the construction of biomedical thinking and its practical incidence, from a decolonial
perspective and from the contributions of physical anthropology, as well as the sociology of the body/
emotions, showing how the biomedical paradigm imposed by colonization is inefficient to understand our
body and to respond to the various health problems that affect the lives of millions of people today.