Biocultural citizenship relates to belonging in terms of genotype and ancestry. SCD activists in Brazil address inequalities and seek racial health reparations. Biology has legitimated cultural claims, especially for Black diasporic communities. In 2006, the committee that developed the National Health Policy for the Black Population (NHPBP) chose sickle cell disease as their “flag to […]

My research explores how patients, non-governmental organizations, and the Brazilian government, at state and federal levels, have contributed to the discourse of sickle cell disease (SCD) as a “black” disease, despite a prevailing cultural ideology of racial mixture. The concepts of race and race-associated health disparities are firmly planted in medical, public health, and scientific […]