In Brasilia, but in Recife: techno-methodological crossings in health, gender and maternities in a research on the Zika virus epidemic’s repercussions

Abstract

This article discusses the practice of medical anthropological research in multiple dimensions, from our first field visit among mothers of babies with congenital Zika Virus syndrome (SCZV) in Recife in 2016. The insurgent methodological arrangements were so innovative and challenging that impelled us to reflect on the contributions of this research to the more general theoretical debate on social research in health. Therefore, in these lines, we reflect on the practice of collective ethnographic research; the plurality of roles of a teacher and researcher; authorship and ethics in the use of field diaries and research results; the use of WhatsApp in the field and as the field; and, finally, the particularities of a research on mothers when the researchers are also mothers and, through this, they meet and also distance themselves. An effort always anchored in the idea of intending and expanding what is understood by research practices, without, however, losing in depth, ethical commitment and reflexivity.