Hypatia 32 (2):247-262 (
2017)
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Abstract
Though Indigenous women in Mexico have traditionally exhibited some of the highest levels
of maternal mortality in the country—a fact that some authors have argued was an important
reason to explain the EZLN uprising in 1994—there is some evidence that the rate of
maternal mortality has fallen in Zapatista communities in the Chiapas Highlands in the last
two decades, and that other health indicators have improved. In this article, we offer an
account of the modest success that Zapatista communities have achieved in improving their
health levels. In particular, we argue that Zapatista women have implicitly used a form of
feminist standpoint theory to diagnose the epistemic (and economic) injustice to which they
have been traditionally subjected and to develop an epistemology of resistance that is manifested
in actions such as becoming health promoters in their communities. We also argue that
this epistemology of resistance is partially responsible for the improvement of health levels in
their communities. Finally, on the basis of our discussion of the Zapatista case, we suggest
that standpoint theory could play an important role in other healthcare settings involving
oppressed minorities.