The cosmopolitics of care: an interview with José Miguel Nieto Olivar

Abstract

In this interview to the journal Saúde e Sociedade, Professor José Miguel Nieto Olivar reflects on the uses of the concept of “cosmopolitics” within the collaborative research project “Cosmopolitics of care at the end of the world: gender, borders, and pluriepistemic assemblages with public health”. Drawing inspiration from philosopher Isabelle Stengers and a network of scholars and interlocutors, the project explores the integration of intersectional and decolonial perspectives into public health, particularly in contexts marked by structural inequality and exclusion. Olivar underscores the importance of incorporating diverse knowledge, experiences, and care practices, challenging the ontological and epistemological boundaries of modernity. He discusses how cosmopolitics reconfigures traditional understandings of public health and expands the notion of care through multisited, collaborative, and pluriepistemic approaches. The interview highlights the relevance of feminist, Indigenous, Black, and LGBTQIAPN+ perspectives in reimagining care and health in the face of planetary and institutional crises, with special attention to South American and Amazonian territorialities. Olivar also shares preliminary results and challenges of the project, emphasizing the role of ethnographic and interdisciplinary practices in generating new forms of dialogue and action. He envisions the transformative potential of these reflections for public health, advocating for the reconnection of local and collective knowledges to rethink care and policy in times of complexity and uncertainty.